Sea Foam
by ShivaVixen
Summary: AU, human/mermaids. A cursed bookcase, a storm, and Lovino Vargas finds himself on the back of a whale in the company of a very odd merman . . . What's next for the unfortunate Italian?
1. The Cabin Boy

**This, ladies and gentlemen . . . fangirls and fanboys, is what happens when you read too many mermaid fics followed by RomanoxAmerica fics by Coffee Flavored Fate. I know this idea has sort of been done before but I thought I'd have some fun, mainly because I've got the soundtrack from the Little Mermaid, as well as a couple Jimmy Buffet island songs stuck in my head (in particular, Coast of Carolina and Coastal Confessions). And I just watched the Pirates of the Caribbean, On Stranger Tides again.**

**This fic will have Pirates, mermaids, mermen, sea creatures/monsters, intrigue and humor (dry and not), and a attempt at romance. It will also be using the 'human names' for most of the characters, as well as a few historical accuracies and in jokes. (There will also be some inaccuracies, but that's just creative license on my part. If you spot ones that are so glaringly wrong, let me know.) I only have two languages that I can read and write, and those are english and latin (which is a little less fluent than I'd like after taking 6 years of it). **

**My Spanish is very basic (I can count, start a conversation, introduce myself and my family, and ask for the bathroom and a hospital, as well as know when I'm being insulted) my french is even less (again, counting, introduction, ask for the bathroom and hospital) I know some Japanese phrases, and I know how to swear in a couple different languages, as well as say 'I love you' and 'Merry Christmas'. (Thank you so much, Hetalia writers, for helping me improve my knowledge of curse words, on that note.) The point being that I'm not really going to bother with inserting other languages other than English and the occasional, maybe, swear word from Spain. I tried it with another fic, and it didn't really work for me.**

**Edit 4/12/13: lengthened some descriptions and edited some conversations.**

* * *

**The Cabin Boy**

The Spanish Galleon _La Morsa_ was an impressive ship framed by a steadily darkening stormy sky, though it was on the smaller side of a galleon, only 125 feet long. The figure head of the ship was the front half of a horse, the lower half that of a dolphin tail. Currently, she was sailing without her beautiful colors, the last scrape she was in had ended with damage to her masts and flag poles (and her victory, sending the other to the bottom of the sea), though the ships carpenter and his apprentices (one willing, two very unwilling) were working to fix it before a possible storm sprang up.

No one reacted to the crash, startled yell, and then loud cursing that came from the Captain's cabin with any surprise or unease, instead going to the unofficial bookie to bet on whether or not the 'cursed bookcase' was going to remain a bookcase this time.

Lovino Vargas glared at the bookcase which was supposed to be bolted to the wall. It was a ship, the bookcase should be attached to the wall (he had seen the ship carpenter hook it solidly the last time this happened, and not even the idiot Captain had been able to knock it over), and yet he always managed to knock the damn thing over. It was probably either cursed or possessed.

"Lovi~!" A cheerful voice exclaimed, before quickly turning puzzled. "How did you manage to knock it over this time?" Captain Antonio Fernandez Carriedo blinked at the bookshelf.

"Hell if I know bastard! I was just trying to clean!" Lovino glared at the bookshelf, tightening his grip on the broom. He was embarrassed this had happened again, and hoping that Antonio wouldn't get mad.

Antonio wasn't a cruel captain, far from it, actually, but Lovino hadn't quite forgiven him for taking him away from his younger brother and making him a cabin boy (never mind that Lovino didn't have much qualification to be anything else on the ship, except maybe being the cook, but he had standards that the galley didn't match, and Antonio, despite being a captain, wasn't able to clean up after himself very well in Lovino's opinion). Not to mention, Antonio tended to stray from the law when need suited him (generally when facing pirates, he became really scary), and Lovino was well aware that someday, Antonio could stop being so nice and turn on him, completely changing the current status quo. (Not that Antonio would, he was far too nice to his men compared to other captains, Lovino just didn't want to admit that he enjoyed being on the ship- and everyone else (save Antonio) knew it.)

"Oh well, perhaps I should re-design it." Antonio shrugged, trying to figure out how to do it and completely unaware that Lovino wasn't completely at ease with his presence. As far as he was concerned, (and he was partially right, even if Lovino denied it, which was more out of habit than any real disagreement) Lovino was one of his more loyal henchmen, and there was no need to get angry, given that there wasn't anything breakable on the bookshelf.

Not to mention, he was seriously considering getting a priest to look at the bookcase, it only ever fell over when Lovino was near it.

"I still think you should get rid of the death trap." Lovino muttered, already moving the books to a trunk that actually stayed bolted in its place.

"Well, it'll have to stay down, anyway, there are clouds gathering, and it doesn't look like we can get around." Antonio pitched in. "Oh, I wondered where I put this." He blinked at the book on top of his stack.

"A storm?" Lovino looked up, getting the captain back on track.

"Just clouds right now, but it's making it difficult to see."

Any further conversation was halted as the ship's bell began to ring the alarm, followed by an impact. In a flash Captain Carriedo was out on deck, demanding answers.

"It's Kirkland!" The Master gunner scowled. "Clouds all but hid him, and he's in an ill mood it appears, that warning shot almost took out the middle mast!"

"Return fire!" Captain Carriedo reached the helm and then ducked as a cannonball came right at him. "His ill mood will be worse by the time we're done with him! Get the Colors up!"

In the captain's Cabin, Lovino was trying to say the Ave Maria without swearing. It had long been accepted that Lovino Vargas didn't fight in battles, keeping out of the way, partly because the sailors were a superstitious lot and Lovino, having been an altar boy when he was younger, was the closest they had to a good luck charm. (That, more than anything, was probably the reason they put up with him being the captain's favorite for so long.) It was also because Lovino wasn't as willing to fight as the rest of the crew, something they were willing to ignore.

The storm that was threatening to burst suddenly did with all the fury of Poseidon, and Lovino yelled in shock, concentration broken as the Galleon rose up rapidly on a wave that sent him falling back to the glass window and the loose bookcase straight at him.

Glass broke and Lovino realized that he was suddenly outside the ship when he hit the water and everything went black.

_He was floating, or on something that was floating. Lovino felt water splash on his face._

"_Hey, you awake?"There was a fish tail of iridescent blue and gold, before he was staring into a pair of brilliant blue eyes. "Hello? Hola?" Lovino's eyes closed, and he fell back into the black._

* * *

**Galleons were generally between 100 ft to 150 ft, and were preferred by the Spanish for the 16 to 18 hundreds. Generally, they had three masts and 2 to 3 gun decks- aka, decks were you see the canons stick out of- and honestly, I think they were rather beautiful.**

**Figureheads were generally unique to each ship, they most commonly were mermaids, or sea animals (like dolphins) or some sort of humanoid, like a soldier or mythical person. I'd recommend watching the pirates of the Caribbean movies to see examples of figureheads- there are a couple skeletons. Usually, the figureheads also helped give the ship a name (La Morsa means sea horse, according to google translate . . . it can also mean walrus and sea cow, but I went with the horse since it's Spain . . .). Ships were also referred to as being ladies, which is why I went with a feminine name.**

**Sailors were very superstitious, and pretty relative- it didn't matter where luck came from, Christianity, Voodoo/Hoodoo, mythical creatures, as long as it was **_**good**_** luck. That said, they were quick to lose anything that was 'bad luck'. The story of Jonah ring any bells?**

**Ave Maria- latin for Hail Mary, and it would have been said in latin during this time period.**

**Captains were pretty much the ultimate authority on the ship if it belonged to a navy or privateer, and they weren't exactly the nicest people on board the ship, either. On the other hand, Pirate ship Captains had to keep their crews appeased, because outside of battle their authority was constantly tested (simply put, the more successful battles and plunder, the better for a Pirate Captain). **

**For Spain, I have him as part of the Spanish navy/exploration, with him being a good guy, though strict, to his men, and then very ruthless to those that threaten his crew, though that's romanticizing it a bit- I'm working on that, let me know how I do?**

**England on the other hand, is a privateer that is more pirate than anything. **

**Romano and the bookcase- yes, this is the bookcase from Spain's house that we see Romano knock over in World Series. It happens twice, that I know of, once when Romano's thinking of it in a flashback, and again just before he overhears Spain's boss telling Spain to get rid of him. The bookcase is pretty big and heavy looking, not to mention, full of books, and honestly, it falls over way to easily for just getting a broom/mop snagged on it. I made it a plot device.**


	2. The Merman and The Whale

**. . . Still, no owning anything related to Hetalia and mermaids, sorry. (Please ignore Anachronisms, like slang, because this is meant for fun!) Updating this, since Twisted Every Way is fighting me, and I'm about to go insane from typing a midterm paper about Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics.**

**The Merman and The Whale.**

Lovino groaned as he woke up. Whatever he was laying on felt weird, and if he found out it was some idiot's plan of a joke, he was going to cause some pain. He was sore, but that didn't stop him from pushing against the weird surface- which, now that he was thinking, actually felt wet, and why the heck were his clothes still on and wet?- to see what was going on. "What the hell?!" He was in the middle of the sea, with no land in sight. Startled as he realized whatever he was on was moving, he tumbled off into the sea- and then started having trouble as his body actually hurt too much to swim.

"Whoa! I've got you, just relax, it's okay!" A very strong arm wrapped around his chest keeping him from going under. "There, take it easy . . ." whoever this person was, he had a strange accent- it wasn't a thick accent, but it wasn't one that Lovino had heard before.

"Wha- who the hell are you?" And why wasn't this guy wearing a shirt? The water was pretty cold.

"Call me Alfred, here, let's get you back up." Lovino _didn't_ give a startled squeak as the guy lifted him bodily out of the water and set him back on the weird moving surface. "There, that's better, yes?" Lovino finally got a good look at the person that had lifted him. Shaggy blond hair, blue eyes, a fairly broad chest and a very handsome face that looked more like it should have belong in a fairy tale than reality. Lovino was definitely not blushing at the man's appearance, he was just flushed from panicking.

"Yes . . . why the hell aren't you up here, Idiot, the water is cold." Lovino frowned as the man sort of drifted back a little before moving forward.

"It feels fine to me." Alfred shrugged. "There's an island about two days away, we're going to try to get you there."

"We're?" Was there another idiot swimming around?

"Yep, me and my whale friend!" Lovino once again didn't give a startled squeak as the whale, whose back he was on, suddenly blew air and spray. The blond smiled. "He says hello!"

"Hello?" Lovino managed. The situation started to sink in at this point. Though it went a little like 'Oh God, I'm in the middle of the ocean with an idiot with a pet whale'. He was probably going into shock, which is why the panic he felt hadn't become a freak out yet.

"Yep!" Alfred shifted in the water so he was parallel to the whale and casually doing a backstroke. "He's still technically a baby, so he doesn't have a name, yet." Whatever Lovino was going to say was cut off as a tail, a shimmering blue with golden stripes (or was it gold with blue stripes?) came out of the water.

"What the hell!" Lovino almost fell off the whale again. "You're a mermaid?!"

"Mer_man_." The blond pouted.

"You- I thought you drowned people!" All the horror stories the crew had told him came creeping back, and Lovino was finally getting to the point of having a panic attack.

"That's mermaids, I'm a merman, and drowning people isn't . . . isn't . . . what's the word?" Alfred frowned absently. "It isn't . . . heroic!" He nodded to himself and smiled.

Lovino just stared at the merman. He hurt, he was tired, he really wanted to have a panic attack because he was in the middle of nowhere and separated from Antonio (Who, despite being an occasionally scary captain, could be idiotically endearing and one of the few people Lovino could sort of Trust), but Lovino didn't have the energy, and that wasn't even mentioning the fact he got saved by a merman who somehow reminded him of his idiot brother with that simple pleased smile at remembering a _word_.

It was official, that bookcase was cursed, and this was all its fault.

"Are you okay?" Alfred tilted his head, and twisted in the water so that he could be closer. "You were hurt badly, do you need to rest?"

"Y-yeah, I think I do." Lovino lay back down on the whale's back. He'd go to sleep, and when he woke up, this would all be a dream. He'd be back on board _la Morsa_ and Antonio would finally toss the damn bookcase overboard.

* * *

Lovino woke up to a face full of spray. "What the-" He almost slipped back into the water, but a hand on his back stopped him. "The hell, it wasn't a dream?!"

"Is that one of those questions where I don't have to answer?" Lovino almost fell off the other side as he twisted to look at the merman that was apparently real. "Sorry, the wind's picking up, it should pass soon." The merman backed away, hands raised in apology.

"You're real." Lovino managed, which wasn't exactly what he wanted to say. Actually, he didn't know what he wanted to say, because this entire situation was impossible.

"Yes, you can call me Alfred." The merman was hit by a wave, and moved closer. As he did, Lovino got a better look at his arms and back. There were large cuts on both, though they looked like they were healing.

"What the hell happened to your back- you shouldn't be swimming like that, idiot! Sharks-" Lovino was interrupted by the merman patting his hand, in an attempt at a 'calm down' gesture.

"It's okay- what's your name?" Alfred leaned against the whale. "Just realized, I forgot to ask."

" . . . Lovino, Lovino Vargas."

"Lovino . . . Shouldn't that be Iovino? You're Italian, right?"

"It's Lovino, and yes, I'm Italian." Lovino shook his head. "That's not the point, you're hurt! You shouldn't be swimming like that, idiot!"

"It's okay, I'm healing. They'll be gone by tomorrow." Alfred reassured him. "How are you feeling, by the way?"

"I'm . . ." Lovino paused. He had gone through a window, after being hit by a bookcase. "Better than I should be, I guess . . ." And thirsty, really thirsty. "Damnit."

"What's wrong?"

"I need water." How long did it take someone to die of thirst? Or exposure, Lovino was starting to feel just how hot the sun was.

"Water, for drinking?"

"What else would I want water for?"

"Okay, Be right back!" Lovino yelped as the merman suddenly dove, splashing him a little.

"Watch it, idiot!" Lovino shouted, before regretting it, his body still sort of ached. "Ugh . . . how do you even stand that guy?" He asked the whale, who, now that he was actually studying it, was smaller than the few whales he had seen. And white, which struck him as odd.

"Bwoo, Bwwooo!" Lovino didn't yell, but he did gape as he realized that the whale was somehow able to understand him. Or maybe it was a coincidence?

Yes, that made more sense. As much sense as anything was making with the headache that he was starting to develop.

"Back!" the merman popped up, beaming, then holding a shell with some green stuff and water in it out to Lovino.

"What the hell?"

"The green stuff's a special type of seaweed, it's so you can drink it safely. It won't hurt you."

"You're sure?" It looked disgusting, the kind of disgusting that no sane person would put that shell to his mouth and drink.

"Of course." Alfred smiled. "Hero's honor."

Well, if the idiot was going to kill him, he'd probably have done it already. Lovino closed his eyes to drink, and was pleasantly surprised that the water tasted good. " . . . This is . . . okay, thanks, idiot." The smile he got in return made him blush. No wait, that was probably sunburn, not blushing. "So I just have to dip the shell in the water?"

"Yes, you can keep doing that until you taste salt- then I'll probably have to get more of that." Lovino nodded, already starting to feel better. "So . . . how'd you end up falling overboard, anyway?"

"I didn't fall, I was knocked through the window in the captain's cabin by a loose bookcase." Even after he said it, he realized how stupid it sounded. "Don't you dare laugh!"

"I wasn't going to. I take it that the bookcase wasn't supposed to be loose?" Alfred moved forward in curiosity.

"No, it came loose just before the storm. Stupid thing always had it out for me." Lovino grumbled, before looking at the merman. "How'd you get hurt?"

"I broke out of a tank and then out the back of Arthur's ship. The windows were what really got me, though." Lovino paused for a minute, looking at him.

"Arthur . . . as in Arthur Kirkland?"

"Yes." Alfred tilted his head. "You know him?"

"Who hasn't?" Lovino studied him. The merman had apparently been in a tank, on a well known Pirate (Privateers were pirates, he really didn't care what sort of fancy letter they had declaring the contrary, especially Kirkland) ship, and had just escaped.

If it was him, he wouldn't have worried about anyone other than himself and gotten out of there as fast as he could. Kirkland was dangerous, Lovino was sure his crew was even worse, and . . . well he wasn't sure if the Merman was just that nice (people that were willing to help others even after being hurt were practically myths, in Lovino's opinion) or just an idiot (like his brother).

"You don't have to worry about Carriedo, I'm sure Arthur stopped the attack once the storm got really bad."

(Then again, Mermaids and mermen were supposed to be myths too . . .)

"What did you say?" Lovino blinked, realizing Alfred was talking.

"I said, don't worry about him. I know you're from Carriedo's ship, but Arthur won't waste too much time on him, not if he still wants to finish his mission or whatever."

"Who says I'm worried?"

"You were frowning, I thought you were thinking about Arthur attacking your ship." Alfred ducked under the water for a moment, before resurfacing.

"I'm not worried about that! I'm more worried how I'm going to survive! Antonio can take care of himself!"

"Oh, okay. You shouldn't worry about that either, I'll take care of you."

"What sort of comment is that?" Lovino demanded, and his face felt hotter- because of the hot sun.

"I saved your life, that means I have to make sure you survive until we figure a way to get you back to your ship or wherever." Alfred smiled. "Heroes don't abandon people in need."

That was the third time Alfred had mentioned something to do with heroes. Lovino wasn't sure what to make of that comment, given that merpeople usually were known to be dangerous to humans, so he kept silent. His headache was starting to go away, as was the flush from the heat, and he was feeling better.

Alfred apparently took his silence for acceptance, because he once again moved closer. Lovino was going to ask why the merman had saved him, but couldn't bring himself to broach the topic.

"Where did the whale come from?"

"He lost his pod, so after we met we decided to stick together. He's my best friend, right?"

"Bwoo!" The whale wiggled a little in agreement. Lovino had to quickly adjust so he wouldn't fall off.

"Careful, I'm still here!" Lovino reminded the whale, who gave a note of apology. "That's better, don't get too excited." The whale gave a another cheerful "Bwoo!" but didn't wiggle. "What the hell are you smiling at?" Lovino added to the beaming merman.

"I'm glad you're getting along!"

"Whatever." Lovino scoffed, before finishing off another shell-full of water. He was starting to feel hungry, but he wasn't to the point where he wanted to ask for food . . . what did mer-people eat, anyway? Alfred suddenly disappeared below the water.

"Where did he go?"

"Bwoo." The whale almost seemed to shrug. This go round, the merman was gone for even longer.

Lovino was just starting to get worried when Alfred popped back up, holding out a bunch of green looking . . . things.

"What's that?"

"Food. You're stomach is making noises. Might not taste good though, humans have different tastes than we do."

It tasted horrible. If Lovino hadn't been in a position where he needed to eat something, he would have refused. "You eat this?"

"Yep." Alfred nodded. "Fish too. But there's no way to cook them for you."

"True." Lovino finished eating and decided to try sleeping again, the sun was starting to set anyway. Mumbling a 'good night', he managed to fall asleep quickly.

Alfred smiled at the steadily darkening sky, a little happy that Lovino was starting to feel better. The whale gave a soft "Bwoo" of relief as the sun completely left his back.

"I know, it shouldn't be that much longer . . ." It really wasn't healthy for his whale friend to have his back exposed to the sun for so long, but Lovino was human, and wouldn't be able to hold his breath or swim for long periods of time.

"Bwwooo." The whale moved, and Alfred sighed.

"Okay, I can ask him tomorrow." Alfred looked up at the sky, and thinking about he wound up in this situation. He really wished he knew what had gone wrong with Arthur- he had told the man upfront that he wasn't going to stay with him for long, that he just wanted to learn the language they were speaking, and initially, everything had been fine. But then Arthur had started snapping at him, refusing to let him get off the ship to swim, and Alfred had no clue what he had done wrong.

The tank Arthur had put him had been small, and the jerk had no idea that after a while, still water would start choking aquatic life. Alfred had broken out while they were engaging the Spanish ship, and then broken through the windows to freedom. It had hurt, but the relief at being in the sea again had more than made up for it. He had almost swam as fast as he could away, but he had seen Lovino hit the water and had saved the man because even if Arthur had turned dangerous that didn't mean all humans were.

With another sigh, he moved so he could lean on the whale. "Wake me when it's time for my watch, alright?" The whale gave a nod, and Alfred looked up at the night sky. He'd help Lovino, and he wouldn't worry about Arthur, he'd try to figure out what went wrong later.

It was much better this way. Besides, maybe Lovino would help answer some of his questions.

* * *

**So I did some research into Mermen for this fic, not a whole lot, but enough to be using quite a few things. (Note, if you just search for mermaids, or merfolk, you tend to just get the stuff about females, if you want to learn about mermen, be sure to type that in- the mythology is very different.)**

**For instance, in some mythologies, mermen are ugly loners that stay away from the surface, sometimes they'll surface during storms. In other mythologies, they're just as handsome as mermaids are beautiful, and lure innocent women to the sea in order to drown them. However, in Finnish mythology, mermen are ruggedly handsome and willing to help humans.**

**I'm going to be using bits and pieces of the different mythologies and fairytales, for both mermen and mermaids- of course, telling you now when I plan to explain in story would just be silly.**

**Lovino vs Iovino. This is taken from a note by Coffee-Flavored Fate, and then my own research into the point he raised (yes, I am the type of person to check facts in other people's author notes) . . . Iovino is a latin/Italian name- in fact, it's a surname from southern Italy, and is a derivative of the Latin name for Zeus, Iove (Jove, there's no J in Latin- watch the 3****rd**** Indiana Jones) and supposedly also means 'young', and also apparently used for the younger of two with the same personal name. Not joking. **

**Lovino . . . doesn't seem to exist as a name, anywhere else. There's a Lovina, which is the name of a beach, but Lovino by itself doesn't seem to exist. I've left it as 'Lovino', but this will play a part later in the story. Hopefully after I find some actual information about the name.**

**Alfred and Lovino's backstories will be explored in the fic, so please, just be patient.**

**I will say this- I have no intention of Vilifying England, or anyone else. England/Arthur is a Privateer bordering on (and technically is) Pirate, and Spain/Antonio is an honest working man. They will both have good moments and bad moments, but for this story, there isn't a real villain planned. (I say this so England fans won't try to kill me, Keep in mind, I'm trying to do a (kind of) period piece.)**

**There is stuff you can use to purify water, and there are several myths about plants or items that can do it. I'm just adding some realism that America has to keep resupplying because after a while it stops working. Also, Seaweed- not all of it is edible. Not all of it tastes good either, especially if it's not dried or cleaned.**


	3. Under the Sea

**Note, this IS an attempt at boy/boy, but it's going to be slow moving . . . there is a boy/boy kiss in this chapter . . . sort of. It's technically not a kiss-kiss . . . um . . . just read?**

**And the title is just because you have to have at least one reference to Disney's Little Mermaid in any decent Mermaid fic . . . some Lovino/Alfred bonding this chapter.**

**Under the Sea**

Alfred quietly munched on the seaweed he'd found, watching Lovino choke it down. He didn't have much else to offer the Italian, not until they got to the island.

Well, there was one thing, but he wasn't sure Lovino would agree to it. Arthur had turned red and yelled at him for suggesting it, and he got the feeling that that was part of what led up to being locked in the tank . . .

Maybe if he explained it first this time?

"Lovino . . . there's a faster way to get to the island."

"What do you mean idiot?" Lovino paused in choking down the seaweed to look at him.

"Whale's moving slow because he's on the surface and because you're on his back, his back is exposed for longer periods than is healthy." Alfred explained, and was a little relieved when he saw Lovino shoot a slightly concerned glance at the whale. "That also slows him down. It would be easier if he could stay underwater for longer, then he'd go faster."

"I'm human, I can't breathe underwater, idiot." Lovino absently touched the whales back . . . it did feel warm to the touch. "I'd drown." He added, sending a slightly apologetic look at the whale.

"Well, I do have a way to keep you from drowning . . . I'd have to kiss you though." Alfred watched as Lovino turned bright red and almost fell off the whale. "Lovino?"

"Kiss, like lips on lips type?" Lovino watched the merman nod, and then back up, which distracted him from what was going to be a 'hell no'. "What's the matter with you?"

"Arthur yelled at me for suggesting it, too." Alfred explained, "I don't know why humans get upset though."

Of course the idiot wouldn't, he wasn't human. Which Lovino had somehow managed to forget while talking to him. Not to mention the comparison to Kirkland bothered him for some reason, as well as the kicked puppy look Alfred had given when he backed up.

"Because he's British and they don't kiss other guys, at all." Lovino struggled to explain. "Italians, we don't mind a kiss on the cheek . . . It's just once, right?" _Where the hell did that question come from?_

Alfred perked up. "Yes, just once! You'll let me kiss you?"

There wasn't anyone around, and it wasn't like anyone would believe any of this, not to mention he didn't have to tell anyone what happened. Besides, Lovino like the Whale, and it wasn't fair to him at all. The whale gave a soft, and almost plaintive "Owooo" which cinched Lovino's decision.

"Yes- but you can't tell anyone!" Lovino pointed at him imperiously. "No bragging to other mer-people, got it?!"

"Hero's honor!" Alfred saluted, then swam closer. Lovino yelped a little in surprise as the whale suddenly inhaled, and began lowering itself below the surface. "It's okay, we've got you . . . you can close your eyes, if you're too uncomfortable . . ."

_Poor choice of words, Idiot._ "What about my eyes- they'll get irritated by the salt." Lovino was having serious second thoughts as the water reached his chest.

"Don't worry, I'll take care of you, promise."

"Just a kiss, right?"

"Right." Alfred nodded, giving a reassuring smile.

"Okay, get it over with." Lovino then promptly closed his eyes tightly, because if he kept them open he was going to try and hit Alfred for getting to close, and tried to relax.

Alfred's lips touched his, and that was where the similarity between a human's kiss and a Merfolk's kiss ended.

Lovino felt Alfred breath into his mouth, which was followed by a cold sensation that made him think he was drowning. The sensation filled his mouth, went down his throat (making him want to gag and choke), and then filled his lungs which protested the invasion. The cold even felt like it went into his veins and bones, spreading through his body, and Lovino's heart raced in pure panic as the moment seemed to drag on.

Then something brushed his eyes, and he opened to see Alfred looking at him in concern, the surface of the water a good ten meters away. The Whale swam behind Alfred, also looking at him in concern as it circled the two. Perhaps it was just him, but it looked bigger underwater than it did on the surface.

"Are you okay? Do you need to surface?" Lovino blinked, surprised he could hear Alfred.

Lovino nodded, before trying to kick his way back up as all his instincts started yelling '_wrong,wrong,wrongwrong!_'. Alfred moved faster, pulling him back up to the surface. Just before they reached it, Lovino's panic caused him to inhale a bunch of water, which left him choking and gasping when they finally did surface. He clung very tightly to Alfred, who was trying to get him to calm down.

"It's okay, you're okay . . . just breathe, focus on breathing." Lovino closed his eyes, trying to get his breathing under control, which he managed.

"The hell was that!" Unfortunately, the same couldn't be said for his temper. He didn't lash out, as currently Alfred was the only thing keeping him in air, but he did glare at the merman.

"Sorry, I didn't think you'd react like that . . . are you alright?" Alfred was very gently rubbing his back.

"No." Lovino closed his eyes and absently leaned against Alfred a little more. "Give me a minute, Idiot."

"Bwooo?" The whale surfaced, looking at both at them in concern. "Owwooo."

"Let's get you back up." Alfred moved to lift him, but Lovino smacked him on the shoulder.

"I said 'give me a minute', dumbass, I-I just needed to go slower! You pulled me down to far, for the first time!" Lovino glared. Part of him, probably the more sensible part, wanted to stay on the back of the whale, even if it did take longer and was uncomfortable for the whale. A greater part, however, was resentful of the fact that (most likely unknowingly) Alfred was treating him like some fragile woman. "I can do this."

"Okay, if you're sure." Alfred let him move back, though Lovino did keep a hand on the other's arm. Lovino took a few more calming breaths, before putting his head underneath the waves. The cool sensation returned, but this time, it wasn't quite as jarring. Alfred's tail had a few smaller fins, which were moving.

Lovino tentatively tried breathing in the water, but quickly had to surface again.

So he couldn't breathe like a fish. That was strangely comforting. "I'm fine, Idiot." He cut off Alfred's attempt to ask a question.

"Alright, would you like to try going deeper?" Alfred apparently took him at his word.

"Just not too deep." Lovino took a deep breath, and dove. Or at least tried to, he'd done some swimming, enough to keep himself afloat, but swimming under the water was something he'd never done, though he'd heard it was possible.

Alfred and the whale dove next to him, and Lovino fought the urge to panic some more- this was completely unnatural.

"I've got you, just hold onto me, okay?" He was never going to get used to hearing Alfred's voice underwater, either. Lovino nodded, and Alfred began to pull, the whale right beside them.

At some point, Lovino forgot to check to see how far the surface was, distracted by the world beneath the waves. Alfred grinned at him, pulling him deeper. There was a huge school of silver colored fish, mixed in with some brightly colored fish that he had never seen before.

A large sea creature, that practically looked like it was flying through the water, caught his attention. The thing was easily the size of a medium boat. Another, smaller version soon joined it. Alfred noticed, and pulled him over to above the huge creature.

"Grab on!" Lovino obeyed, and watched as Alfred pretty much lay down with a grin. The creature dove over what would have been a small drop off on land, and Lovino felt his mouth twitch into a smile as more underwater creatures swam past, most of which he didn't know the names of.

Lovino glanced at Alfred, noting with some surprise that the cuts on his arms and back were completely healed, leaving thin, threadlike scars.

Alfred's tail, while primarily gold and blue, also had a few of the silver threadlike scars- including a couple that resembled some of the bullet scars he'd seen on several of his crewmates. The tail itself almost seemed to blend into Alfred's torso, with small swirls of gold threading through the human skin. Curious he reached out to learn if they felt different.

"OOOooooOOOooo," the sound, which sounded more like a song than anything, distracted Lovino from touching. The whale swam close, and Alfred sat up.

"I think he's jealous- thanks for the ride!" Lovino watched the ray as it seemed to wiggle, and then clung to Alfred as he pulled him up. Lovino was slightly confused as Alfred told him to grab onto the whale's back, which prompted more of the whale's song. Alfred gleefully began to swim circles, clearly showing off.

Strangely enough, Lovino didn't mind, it was fascinating to watch Alfred play in his element.

The whale began to head to the surface, and Lovino held on as it suddenly sped up breaching the surface, though not fully coming out of the water. Lovino gasped in the air, not realizing that he had needed it for a startling second.

"You're doing good, Lovino!" Alfred popped up with a grin.

"Of course I am, I told you I just needed a moment." Lovino couldn't help but smirk triumphantly. "What was that thing?"

"I think one of your explorers called it a Devil Ray. They can get to be pretty big."

"No kidding." Lovino looked at the rather monotonous expanse of blue sky, as well as the dot marring the horizon. "Hey, Alfredo, is that the Island?"

"Yep!" Alfred grinned. "Ready to go again?"

"Of course!" Lovino took another breath as the Whale dove, already looking forward to once again going under the sea.

* * *

**So, I pretty much expanded on the whole 'Mermaid's Kiss protects one from drowning' from POTC: On Stranger Tides, but added the clause that it doesn't stop Lovino from needing air. Lovino's still human after all, so the 'Kiss' just makes it so he can go longer without taking another breath. (Also, and I doubt Romano would know this, the magic of the 'Kiss' also keeps him from being affected by the water pressure. This is mostly due to the fact that, even at a very short dive, water pressure would still be uncomfortable for most.)**

**Romano's reaction- I got SCUBA certified a couple years ago, and much to my dad's surprise, I adjusted to breathing with a regulator and swimming around just fine- better than some of the other beginners in my class, actually. However, I know two people (technically three, but I wasn't there for that third one) that freaked out. One of them freaked out on being so far from the surface of the water, despite having air; the other, who just had her face in the water to get used to breathing with the regulator, also panicked and thought she was going to drown.**

**I don't say this to make fun of anyone, but everyone reacts differently; Alfred really should have gone slower for Lovino to adjust properly- and even if you don't have a problem with SCUBA, you should still go slow.**

**(The second incident also highlights my poor people skills, because after the woman pulled herself back up, she went quiet and turned pale. Everyone else was quietly reassuring she'd be fine, but she wasn't responding. Me, with my great sense of tact, bluntly told her she needed to respond. (Actual Quote: "We're waiting for you to respond") She managed to say 'I'm fine', and I just patted her shoulder, before turning my attention to my own regulator and gear. (Sympathy, thy name is NOT ShivaVixen) She was fine, recovered, and was able to dive without any further problems. Everyone else later teased me for my wonderful sense of tact. (Strangely, she later thanked me for helping, which still confuses me, because I sure didn't help.))**

**Also, Romano's comment- I am a girl (note the Vixen) and I don't write him to be a sexist pig- but this **_**is**_** set around the 15/16 hundreds and the prevailing view **_**was**_** that women were fragile creatures that must be protected, especially noble ladies. (Some awesome female exceptions, like Jeanne D'Arc, Maria Theresa, etc. did occur, but the overall view never changed) Romano's just trying to save some of his masculine pride after clinging to Alfred during his panic attack.**

**Next chapter, more Alfred and Lovino bonding! Maybe some plot, but we'll see.**


	4. On the Island

**Things I am not: the owner of Hetalia and a geographer. I did some research for this part, but in the end, a lot of this is creative license, made worse because I'm mixing fantasy with reality.**

**On the Island**

_Day 3_

Lovino wearily stumbled onto the dry sand, grateful to God to finally have something solid to stand on. He'd almost forgotten what land felt like.

He didn't have a clue as to how big the island was, but he could care less. For some reason or another, there was a lagoon on the side they came in, and the whale had managed to jump over the barrier of a reef and rocks to join them. He turned to look at where the whale was currently resting in the calm water, the only part of him above water was the area around his blowhole.

The lagoon was pretty deep in places, there even appeared to be underwater caves, but he didn't know if that was normal or not.

There was also a sunken ship, almost twenty meters out from the rocks and reef- apparently, whoever it was had tried to get in the lagoon, wrecked, and then got moved.

He'd feel sorry for the poor bastards, if he wasn't so glad he was on nice, solid ground, and about to finally dry out after two days of nonstop water. Alfred was exploring the ship, trying to figure out if there was anything that Lovino could use.

With a soft groan, Lovino sat up and pulled off his shirt. The poor fabric had stiffened a little from the salt, and was probably never going to be the same again. The soft sound of running water caught his attention, and he found a small stream that came from a miniature (about the height of a taller man) water fall just in the tree line. It was fresh, which was all he cared about, and he tried rinsing himself off a bit before heading back to the beach.

"Where'd you go?" Alfred had come back, pulling himself and a chest into the shallows.

"Found a stream of fresh water." Lovino studied the chest, before tugging it out of the shallows and closer to dry land. "What's this, Idiot?"

"Stuff- found some pots and other human cook-stuff, knives . . . dunno if you want me to try to get any of the spare clothes." While Alfred spoke, Lovino opened the chest and began sorting through the stuff.

"No thanks, I'll pass . . ." Lovino wished for some soap- some of this might be salvageable. "How long was this stuff down there?"

"A couple months at least, a year at most, the crew's still there." Lovino paused, looking at Alfred who had moved closer, though his tail was still mostly in the water, and who had said that last part a little too casually. "What?"

"What do you mean, the crew's still there?"

"Their bodies are still on the ship- after a while longer, they won't be." Alfred looked at Lovino, who was still looking at him strangely. "They aren't going to need anything."

Lovino briefly thought of explaining the concept of grave robbing, but then realized that was probably a moot point given that one, Alfred probably didn't care, given the way he had quickly gone to check out the wreck as soon as Lovino reached the shallows, and two, he actually would like to have a way to cook. "You've got a point." Another thought occurred to him. "Do you think any survivors made it on the island?"

"I didn't see a signal fire or smoke. I'll look around the island later." Alfred promised, shifting so he could pull his tail closer, and more on dry land.

"Don't you need to be in water or something?" One pot was mostly useless, the other looked like it could be cleaned. Some knives were actually daggers and still in their sheaths, so they weren't too bad. It would take a while to get them cleaned up, though. He'd give anything for a bar of soap at this point.

"I can stay out of the water for a little bit." Alfred smiled. "Need me to get anything else?"

"Not right now," Lovino's stomach growled, and Alfred began to smile even bigger, which annoyed Lovino enough for him to say, "Don't smile like that, idiot, I'm going to try and find some food . . . that isn't that nasty seaweed."

"Okay." Alfred pushed himself back into the water, still smiling.

Lovino stalked off, grumbling about smiling Idiot mermen with pet whales and poor morals. He found a few things he recognized as edible, like coconuts, and a few things that might be edible, but he was hesitant to try, though he gathered them into his shirt anyway. It was only when he got back to the beach that he realized he was going to have trouble opening the coconuts.

"Hey, Idiot, do you know if-?" Lovino blinked, the whale looked at him in curiosity, but Alfred was gone. "Where'd he go?"

"BwooO." The whale splashed the top of the water with his tail, and tried to point a flipper.

"Right . . ." Lovino sighed. It took him a couple tries with a rock to break open one of the coconuts, which then proceeded to splatter him.

"I didn't even know it was possible to do that." While he was wrestling with the coconut, Alfred had returned, watching him silently. Lovino jumped when he finally spoke, and glared at Alfred. "You're not very good at opening coconuts."

"Shut up!" Lovino threw a coconut at him, and was even more annoyed when he caught it. "I've never done it before!"

"That's okay, you said you're a good cook, right?"

"What sort of idiotic question is that?" Why was he putting up with this Idiot who kept changing the subject again?

"I caught some fish, if you want them." He pointed to the pot that Lovino had discarded, which was now filled with water and some fish. "So I'll open the coconuts, okay?"

"Don't tell me what to do, Idiot." Lovino muttered. "How am I supposed to make a fire, anyway? Rub sticks together?"

"That works." Alfred shrugged, tossing the coconut to himself. "Or you could use that rock you humans use- I think it's dry enough." He pointed to a rock that was sitting innocently next to the chest.

"It's called 'flint'." Lovino muttered, and proceeded to build a fire a bit back from the shore line. He wouldn't be able to use the pans until they were clean (maybe sand would work?) but he could make a spit for cooking the fish- or just roast them on a stick. It took a few tries for him to get it to light (the flint was still a little damp), and it didn't help that Alfred was distracting him by breaking a couple coconuts with his bare hands. The idiot show off mermaid . . .

The rest of the day was spent making a camp, and trying to scour the pots with sand to make them clean. (Lovino reluctantly sacrificed one of the sleeves from his shirt for the job.)

* * *

_Day 7_

Lovino finally got two of the knives clean and sharp, which made cooking easier. He also picked a tree to start keeping track of the days he'd been separated from _La Morsa_ (which sounded a lot better than 'Knocked through a window by a bookcase').

A sort of schedule was starting to emerge, even if Lovino wasn't aware of it. Mornings had Lovino gathering food for the day, around noon he would got diving with Alfred, who was eager to show him the reef as well as other edible sea creatures that he was slowly teaching Lovino to catch. Dives generally changed into watching Alfred and the whale play- or Lovino going with the whale while Alfred checked out the shipwreck to see if there was anything else worth salvaging that he missed.

Lovino was pretty sure that he was just using that as an excuse to explore, occasionally bringing back items for Lovino to explain.

There wasn't any sign of anyone else on the island, but given that Lovino stuck to the lagoon, and Alfred only explored the shoreline, it was possible someone was on the interior of the Island.

* * *

_Day 12_

"Do you have a family?" Lovino cursed himself the instant the question left his mouth. Alfred was laying on the shore, tail still mostly in the water as Lovino cooked, and Lovino had found himself asking the question for no good reason. It wasn't like he cared about the merman that much.

"Mm, I've got a twin brother. I haven't seen him in a while, though." Alfred looked at him. "What about you?"

"Younger brother, he's an idiot though."

"No parents?"

"Not living. Our grandfather raised us, sort of. He's an idiot, too." Lovino glanced at him. "What about you?"

"I don't know who my parents are. Merkids are raised in communal groups. Once we're old enough to defend ourselves, we can go off on our own- sometimes we can stick around and help out, but most often we get sent off." Alfred stretched out a bit, before sitting up. "Mermaids like to form large groups, but the most you'd find in a group of mermen is four, though it's usually just three."

"How come you're not in a group?"

"I wanted to go south and explore, my brother and the other in our group wanted to go north. So we split up." Alfred shrugged. "Besides, I met whale, and found you, so it's not like I'm alone, right?" Alfred beamed at him.

Lovino blinked, confused as for some reason, his breath caught and heart beat oddly for a moment. "W-whatever, Idiot." Lovino turned back to his fish. "What's your brother's name?"

"I dunno."

"How the hell do you not know your brother's name?" Lovino looked at him as if he was insane. He might not have seen his brother in a while, but he knew his brother's name was Feliciano.

"Merfolk don't really name things like humans do, since our parents don't name and raise us. We know who we're talking about since we're in groups, so there's no real need to name each other. Sometimes we find a name we like, so we use it, or get named by a human we meet, and use that. But it's not . . . something we put too much value on."

"Oh." Lovino pulled the fish out of the fire. "Fish is ready."

"Food!" Alfred looked happily at the fish. "Wahbouoo?"

"Don't talk with your mouth full, idiot!" Lovino glared at him. Alfred swallowed sheepishly.

"Sorry, What about you? Why aren't you with your brother?"

"Our parents had some financial trouble that our grandfather couldn't pay off, or didn't know about, I'm not sure which. My brother got taken in by some merchant noble family to work off the debt, but since they didn't need me, they gave me to Antonio. He did them a favor or something, so they asked him to take me." He really wasn't clear on how the spaniard knew the jerk, hadn't really cared at the time.

"So what did you do?"

"I was the cabin boy." Lovino admitted.

"Aren't you a little old for that?" Alfred blinked. The cabin boy on Arthur's ship was 13.

"I'm not good at much of anything other than cleaning- and there was no way I was going to work in that galley." Lovino really hadn't cared for the cook all that much. "Besides, no one else wanted the job."

The discussion was dropped soon after that.

* * *

_Day 18_

"Hey, Idiot, what happened here?" Lovino, after the family question, began to feel more and more confident about asking questions- and answering the ones that Alfred had in return. Today, he finally decided to ask the question that had been bugging him about the scars on Alfred's tail.

"Hmm? Oh, someone got me with a harpoon." Alfred shifted so Lovino could see his tail better. They were both sitting in the shallows, so Lovino ended up with Alfred's tail almost knocking him over.

"Careful, idiot!" Lovino pushed the tail back a little, before touching the scar. "How'd you get it out?" Harpoons usually had barbs on them, right?

"My brother had to cut it out- so it healed like that." Lovino nodded, gently tracing it, before moving to the other one.

"This one?"

"Someone shot me- it didn't go deep, so I got it out just fine, but whale had to carry me for a bit."

"Bwoo." The whale moved closer.

"Oi, don't get too close, you'll end up stuck like yesterday." Lovino scowled, before his hands bumped into one of the smaller fins. "What do these do?"

"Generally, they help with my agility, and keeping straight in the water when I'm not actively swimming." Alfred shifted a little, so the fin in question could spread out. It appeared primarily gold with blue laced through, and like the rest of the tail it shimmered. Lovino traced the edges.

Alfred suddenly shifted closer, and Lovino blinked in shock as the tail bent in a way no human could possible bend.

"How about you, how'd you get this one?" Alfred very gently traced a scar on his back, curious.

"My ship got into a fight with some Turkish pirates- one bastard caught me from behind. Antonio stopped him from cutting me open any further, though." Lovino turned, and found himself face to face with Alfred. Their faces were a little too close, and Lovino felt his own face flush.

"Looks pretty bad." Alfred met Lovino's eyes, and Lovino very quickly broke eye contact.

"Hmph- it was." Lovino managed after clearing his throat and turning back to Alfred's tail. "What about this one?" Lovino picked another long thin scar on the tail near Alfred's fluke.

"I hit a fishing boat." Alfred noted his look. "I wasn't looking where I was going, and well, I had to twist to avoid the net they suddenly threw." Alfred tried to mime it with his hands. "My tail was longer than I thought, so it hit and got pretty scrapped up."

"How do you not know how long your tail is, Idiot?"

"It was during a growth spurt, and I'd grown a little more when I was asleep." Alfred's tail twitched. "Annoyingly, my brother never had that problem when he had a spurt- he's got a few scars, but he was never as reckless as I was."

" . . ." Lovino opened his mouth to ask why, but changed his mind. "I'm getting out of the water for a bit, Idiot."

Alfred watched him leave, with a strange sense of disappointment and longing. Though for what he didn't know.

* * *

_Day 25_

"Huh?" Alfred blinked at Lovino in surprise.

"You heard me, Idiot." Lovino crossed his arms. "I want to go diving to see the wreck with you."

"Okay!" Alfred beamed, and Lovino felt something shift in his chest. Almost uncomfortably so. "You might want to bring a knife, just in case."

As Lovino went to get the knife, Alfred turned a few circles, extremely happy that Lovino wanted to dive with him- maybe he could figure a way to get the glass lanterns without breaking them (Alfred kept gripping too hard because they were rusted to the wall and he couldn't figure the right way to get them off the wall).

The whale gently bumped him, gesturing that it was going to go get some food.

"Okay, we'll be here, be careful, alright?" He patted Whale's head.

"BwooOOooo!"

Whale watched his two pod mates go out to the wreck with a smile. He liked watching them being happy together. His merman had been so lonely before . . . and his human clearly needed a friend too.

Whale turned to go hunting, but kept close. There were sharks nearby, and he wasn't going to let them hurt his pod.

* * *

_Day 32_

Lovino decided that he wanted to see the rest of the Island- or at least the shoreline. He planned to walk, and maybe later he'd try exploring more of the interior of the Island.

Alfred was not happy with his plan. "What if you need help? I can't get to you if you're on dry land." The whale briefly glanced up from where he was eating a coconut (which Lovino steadfastly ignored, because he'd like to keep some of his sanity) before deciding that his two podmates could deal with their issues alone.

"I'll run into the water, I can swim." Lovino glanced at his shirt, which he had stopped wearing a while ago, only keeping his pants on (which were steadily fraying). With a soft huff, he decided against using it. "Besides, I'll stay close to the shallows, you'll be there, right?"

"Right." Alfred still wasn't convinced. At all. But he followed in the shallows as Lovino started walking. (They left whale to guard their camp, and to enjoy the coconuts.) In some places, the shoreline was rather rocky, making Lovino tread carefully as he lacked shoes, while in others it returned to being sand. Looking inland, Lovino could see large gaps through the trees that there were meadows of a sort.

Conversation was mostly about how many places they had been, Alfred a little limited in his knowledge since he didn't seem capable of telling the difference between land-dwellers, or even aware of most countries that didn't have borders on oceans. Lovino would have been annoyed by his lack of knowledge, up until he remembered (again, why did he keep forgetting?) that Alfred didn't have legs and wouldn't be able to visit any place that was land-locked.

Alfred, however, could describe ships and flags he had seen, as well as explained that other sailors he had saved teaching him bits and pieces of their languages. Lovino then bullied him into speaking Italian for the rest of their walk, as it was one of the few languages that Alfred actually knew pretty well. (Unfortunately, he seemed to mix up Spanish and Portugese when he tried to speak Spanish.)

Around noon, he got to a very rocky area of the beach, including large rocks that he had to maneuver around, which separated him from Alfred for a bit. Past the rocks, he came to a cove, which could probably act as a port for two or three ships, depending on size.

"Well, it's not too big of an island, I guess." Lovino sighed. Alfred swam up, pulling himself onto a nearby rock.

"The other side is longer, I think." Alfred flicked his tail out of the water. "There's another wreck, but it's older than ours, and there's nothing useful inside."

" . . . So this Island might be on a map?" Lovino studied the Cove, before going to sit next to Alfred on the rock. "Two ships can't be coincidence."

"Maybe, or they got blown here by a storm . . . there might be other inhabited Islands nearby. I haven't found out."

" . . . How did you know about this Island, then?"

"A dolphin told whale who told me."

"A dolphin told the whale . . . why am I not surprised?" Lovino muttered.

"How are your feet?" Alfred gently nudged one leg with his tail.

"They hurt, I don't think I'm going to be able to explore the rest . . . you said the other side was longer?" Lovino felt a shudder at the thought- he really couldn't afford to get a cut foot.

"And with a lot more rocks." Alfred nodded, before wrapping his arms around Lovino. "You're shivering, are you cold?"

Lovino flushed red and almost jumped off the rock. "A-a little. I should probably start walking to warm up . . ."

"But your feet hurt, I could get you back faster!" Alfred offered. "You'd just have to hold onto me!"

Truthfully, Lovino really didn't want to walk back over rocks (he'd have to find a way to make shoes or sandals, maybe from the palms?), so he only hesitated a little before agreeing. "Alright, but don't go too fast, idiot!"

"Okay!" Alfred agreed, before easily picking up Lovino and pulling him back down to the water. "Take a deep breath." He reminded, and just before Lovino panicked and tried to change his answer, he dove.

Lovino was wide-eyed at how fast Alfred was, and it didn't take long for apprehension and terror to melt into pure excitement.

* * *

_Day ?_

Lovino woke up to a splash and a soft yelp. He didn't bother moving. "You did it again, didn't you?"

"You're up!" Alfred smiled- he knew the idiot was smiling. If it wasn't for the tail, he'd have sworn the other was a dog with his endless enthusiasm.

"No, go back to sleep." Enthusiasm that had no place before the sun was fully up.

"But Lovino . . ." Alfred gave a soft whine- was there such thing as a dogfish?- and Lovino made the mistake of looking to see the merman giving him puppy eyes.

"Damn it. What do you have against sleeping in?" He heard Whale give what sounded like a 'laugh' (and he no longer thought it odd that he was attributing human-like reactions to the whale.) "Hush whale, he annoyed you the last time he did this too." And now the damn whale was smiling.

"But Lovino, you wanted to go diving this morning." Alfred leaned on the rocks pulling himself out of the water a bit. "You can't sleep all the time."

"Watch me." Lovino muttered, but still got up. He caught a glance at the tree he had been using as a way to keep track of the days, and winced. He'd stopped keeping track a few days (maybe a week or two) ago. It hadn't been doing his sanity much good, and he ignored the part of him that still worried about the people he had left behind. Alfred's navigational abilities involved the underwater world and occasionally the stars (which had different constellations and names), whereas Lovino knew maps and how to locate Polaris. It was a gap they had been closing, but Alfred still didn't get the point of maps, so Lovino hadn't bothered pressing the issue of returning.

It didn't take him long to get ready, and by that time, Alfred had tried to turn a few more flips in the water of the lagoon.

"Your tail is too long, idiot."

"I think the water isn't deep enough, actually." Alfred shrugged, then swam over. "Ready?"

"Just don't try to drown me."

"I kissed you, you're not going to drown." But Alfred waited until Lovino had submerged himself in the water before grabbing his hand.

Not too long ago, the idea of spending most of his days swimming and exploring the wreck that wasn't too far from their lagoon would have been horrifying to Lovino, not to mention, he wouldn't have been capable of doing such a thing.

Now, he could almost keep up with Alfred even when the other let go of his hand. The fact he didn't have to worry about air or drowning certainly helped with his learning how to swim.

They spent most of the morning hours collecting empty shells, the whale swimming around them and keeping an eye out for danger ( the shells were because Lovino needed something to do other than cook and gather wood for fire when he was on the island). After a lunch that involved fish and seaweed Alfred had gotten, and fruit that Lovino had found, they headed out to the shipwreck.

The whale once again kept guard as Lovino and Alfred searched the ship for anything else worth salvaging, they found a few locked chests that might still be alright, the problem was trying to find a key- neither of them were all-that eager to search through the bones and clothes to find whoever had the keys.

Alfred easily pulled two of the chests out as they left. If Lovino couldn't pick the lock, the merman would be able to break them open.

Unsurprisingly, Alfred did have to break them open. Saltwater and Iron locks were notorious enemies.

"Wow . . . the stuff's still a little shiny." Alfred blinked, poking at the roughcut gems and chunks of silver in one chest.

"Not to mention completely useless." Lovino added, picking up a small red gem. He might be able to fasten them to the shells if he could figure a way to cut them.

If he ever got really bored, he could polish them all. He'd have to be really bored, though. He didn't notice the look of curiosity, and affection, that Alfred was giving him.

* * *

_Day 0_

Lovino didn't know the day when he realized that he was in love with Alfred. He just knew that things had changed in some way that made him not mind staying in the merman's arms and all but cuddling in the shallows. When he realized that he wanted to try kissing Alfred, he almost knocked himself out by hitting his head on the tree with the marks.

This wasn't right. They were both men- Alfred wasn't even the same species, Damnit! He couldn't . . . Lovino closed his eyes. How could this have even happened?

He'd been on the island too long.

"Lovino- what's wrong?" Alfred sounded concerned.

"Nothing's wrong, Idiot."

"You're crying, so something's wrong." Alfred pointed out. Lovino blinked, reaching up to touch just under his eyes. He was crying, but he couldn't feel the familiar burn of tears. "Lovino?" Alfred struggled closer to him, but soon stopped. "What's wrong Lovino? I can't help if I don't know . . ."

"Bwoo?" The Whale also moved closer.

"I . . . I want to get off this island." Lovino managed, moving towards them so they wouldn't get stuck out of water. Alfred was able to lift himself up with his tail enough so he could pull Lovino into his arms and hold him close. "I want to see that idiot captain and my idiot brother."

Alfred began rubbing his back as Lovino sobbed softly, feeling horrible for not thinking about this before. He had to fix this, as a hero he couldn't let Lovino stay unhappy . . . it made Alfred unhappy as well. He easily pushed aside the part of him that wanted to keep Lovino here.

"I'll find a way to get you home . . . I don't know how, but I'll get you back to your home. Hero's honor." Alfred gently rested his head on top of Lovino's. He glanced at the Whale who nodded, splashing his tail. "We both will."

* * *

**. . . This wasn't how I planned the chapter to go. But I ended up coming up with all these great scenes, (and some not so great, trust me, these are the best), and this ended up being a bit of a clip show, showing the two boys bonding.**

**Oh well. **

**Next chapter, the boys try to figure a way to get Lovino back to Italy (or at least, a Spanish or Italian port) but get a couple surprises . . . and some trouble.**

**Things **_**will**_** get better for the boys relationship, you know, once Alfred realizes that he loves Lovino as more than a friend/ pod mate (to quote the Whale) and Lovino figures a way to deal with his strongly-catholic formed conscience. (Please keep in mind, this is not just my first boyxboy fic, but also the first fic where 'romance' is one of the main genres I focus on . . . so let me know how it goes?)**

**Let's see . . . Cabin Boys were usually about 14-16 years in age, and their primary job was to run messages and swab the deck, and were generally under the watchful eye of the cook. (If any of you know anything about Treasure Island, or even Treasure Planet, this is why Jim Hawkins and Long John Silver spend so much time together- Silver is Jim's superior in the chain of shipboard command.) Lovino's a little different, as he primarily works for Antonio instead of the cook . . . you could argue that he's technically Antonio's Steward, but since he started off as a cabin boy, the rest of the crew still call him that. There will be more on this in a later note, though, otherwise I'd give away too much.**

**Tears are pretty much salty water, so a consequence of being able to see in sea water without getting one's eyes irritated, is the inability to feel one's own tears.**

**The 'Day 0' part is the start of a new countdown for Lovino and Alfred.**


	5. Ocean's Daughters

**This chapter's title is courtesy of listening to Train's 'Mermaid'. Seriously, the song's been haunting me since I started this fic, as has 'Jolly Sailor Bold' and 'Poor Unfortunate Souls'.**

**Short, but the next few chapters will be longer.**

**Ocean's Daughters**

Trying to get off the island was easier said than done. To start off, they didn't know how far the nearest Island was, and there was apparently no intelligent sea life who could tell either the Whale or Alfred where they'd seen inhabited land.

There was some nearby, but the directions and amount of time varied, depending on who was asked. (The shortest so far was 4 days, and the longest a year, and those answers came from the same turtle). Apparently, no creature in the ocean knew or even cared where land-dwellers lived, content to stick to their life under the waves.

Lovino was not impressed, but held his tongue. "Any way the long boats are useful?" he started sketching in the sand with a stick.

"Not likely, they've been on the bottom for a long time, they'd start filling with water, the caulking's mostly gone." Alfred pulled himself closer, watching Lovino sketch in the sand. "What are you drawing?"

"Trying to figure out if it would be worth it to build a raft . . . could probably do it with some logs strapped together." Except, Lovino realized, there wasn't any useful rope, and he couldn't cut down trees with the knives he had. "Or not."

"Why not?"

"I can't cut down trees, and I doubt there are enough fallen logs that are perfectly suited for making a raft." The damn thing would fall apart, too, with his luck.

"You could just ride Whale." Alfred pointed out, the whale in question giving his agreement.

"I know, but I was hoping I could bring food with us." Lovino sighed.

"Oh." Alfred blinked.

Lovino sighed again and tossed the stick on the drawing, before burying his face in his hands. As much as he wanted to get off the island, he was starting to feel like there was no way, or even a reason, to get anywhere else. Antonio could get on without him, he'd only been a burden to the crew, anyway, and as for his brother . . . they hadn't written each other in a while, it was next to impossible to get letters from the land to a ship, and Lovino wasn't even sure his brother had gotten any of his letters. They'd been separated for so long . . . would his brother even want him back?

"It'll be okay, Lovino." Alfred's hands were on his shoulders, and Lovino was about to retort that no, it wouldn't be okay, when Alfred started massaging his shoulders and back.

In moments, any attempt to yell at Alfred went out the window as Lovino melted into the touches. That didn't mean Lovino didn't talk. "N-no it won't, Idiot . . ."

"Yes it will. We'll figure it out . . . I might just have to leave you here to scout out other islands. It shouldn't take too long, maybe a couple weeks and I'd be able to find this place again." Alfred offered, smiling as Lovino turned practically boneless, stretching out next to him.

Lovino had been enjoying the massage until Alfred mentioned leaving. The idea made him panic. The two things that were keeping him sane were Alfred and the Whale right now, and Alfred kept him sane by being someone to talk with. If he didn't have that . . . even for a short time . . . he didn't want that to happen. "Don't."

"What?" Alfred blinked. Lovino levered himself up on one arm.

"Don't leave, Idiot. I . . . I need you to stay sane." This would be easier if Alfred had a shirt he could grab, he realized, resting one hand on Alfred's arm.

"Lovino . . . what about your family? Don't you want to see them?" Alfred blinked as Lovino looked away. "You can't just give up on finding them, that's not right." A part of Alfred was really glad to hear that Lovino wanted him to stay, because he didn't really want to leave, and that same part was practically dancing at hearing that Lovino needed him. But his logical side knew that he couldn't hope to stay too long with Lovino (a dark part of him whispered that he had already stayed too long) and that he really should try to get Lovino back to his family.

"I'm not giving up!" Lovino shouted, scowling. What the hell was wrong with him, anyway? He needed to get off this Island, but at the same time, the thought of getting off the island put him into an uncertain panic.

Alfred was really confused at this point, so he just started massaging Lovino's back again. "Okay, it'll be okay, we'll take it a day at a time. I'll keep asking around for help with Whale, you can try making rope again." Lovino's attempts at making rope had not gone well; he wasn't even sure how people made it to begin with other than twisting fibers, which could be made from plants, together. "Later we can go swimming, I want to explore the caves in the lagoon, and I'll show you how to catch lobsters."

" . . . Mmm, Fine." Lovino agreed. He wasn't too sure about the 'making rope' but he was a little more calm. He blinked, only to see the sun had moved and both the Whale and Alfred were gone. He sat up, confused, before realizing that Alfred and the whale had probably gone hunting again while he was asleep.

Moving to the stream, he quietly drank. One day at a time, huh? He could do that. Alfred and the whale would help him, and then- well he wouldn't think about that. He'd get off the Island first.

A giggle made him freeze, eyes widening. That wasn't him, and it definitely wasn't Alfred- the other had a really loud laugh. There was another giggle. Turning he starred at two women in the shallows . . . actually, two mermaids, one with fairly short pale blonde hair and a light blue tail, the other with her blonde hair reaching her shoulders and a molted yellow and red tail, both wearing ribbons and necklaces with a shell on them.

That was about it. Lovino grabbed his shirt with one sleeve and held it out, averting his eyes as he turned red.

"If you wouldn't mind?"

The two mermaids blinked, surprised, before looking at each other.

"You want us to cover up?" The one with the yellow-red tail looked at him, curious.

"Si." He didn't think he could get any redder, but the blush was continuing to deepen. "Please?"

"What's wrong, don't you like us?" She moved a little closer, giving a very cat-like smile, and Lovino once again found the horror stories that Alfred had clarified come back. Mermaids did drown people, and he didn't want to drown!

"What's going on?" Alfred and the whale had returned, and Lovino almost dove behind him.

"Get them to cover up, it's indecent!" Lovino hissed.

"Uh . . . okay?" Alfred blinked, before looking at the two mermaids. "Why are you bothering him?"

"We just wanted some fun . . . didn't realize he was taken." The one with the cat smile pouted, picking up the shirt that Lovino had dropped in his haste to get to safety. "He's adorable." She added, moving a little closer. Alfred made an odd noise, a warning, and Lovino noticed the fins stretching out. The Whale also shifted to guard, and the mermaid giggled. "I swear, I won't hurt him. Neither of us will, we just needed a place to relax for a bit." Alfred relaxed.

"Alright . . . then would you mind covering up?" Alfred glanced at Lovino who was trying to not freak out. "And if you have some human names so he can talk to you, that would be helpful."

"Of course- you can call me Bella." The one who had been speaking calmly tore the remaining sleeve, while the other who had been giggling simply slid herself into deeper water.

"I'm Ka-" The giggling one with the blue tail (that had yellow fins, he'd noticed) started.

"You can call her Kat. It's what I've been doing." Bella interrupted as she pulled on the shirt before tying the sleeve around her waist like a sash.

"Beautiful names . . . I'm Lovino, he's Alfred." Lovino cautiously moved back to the sand. "That's Whale. You've been traveling?"

"Mmhmm, we're trying to find one of our group, she went missing a few years ago. We think she's now on an island in this sea, but we haven't found her yet." Bella pulled herself onto the sand. Her tail shimmered and Lovino stared in shock as she suddenly had legs. "Help me up?" Lovino pulled her up, glancing at Alfred who had an unreadable expression.

Alfred noticed, and his expression cleared. "I'll get some more fish for dinner, then . . . I'll be right back."

"Right, I better get more firewood." Lovino agreed.

"I'll come with you!" Bella beamed.

"You don't have to . . ." Alfred and Kat had vanished.

"I insist, as reparation for teasing you." Bella smiled.

"Well . . . alright . . ." Lovino had no idea how to act. He had no problem flirting with women, but this was different, for a starting point, this woman wasn't human and capable of killing him. As she followed him, Lovino found himself asking a question that was bothering him. "How come you have legs and Alfred doesn't?"

"Huh?" Bella looked at him. Lovino picked up a couple sticks.

"Alfred can't walk on land. You can, so I was wondering why."

"Alfred can't walk on land? That's . . ." Bella frowned. "I can walk on land, because of my shell- all merfolk get them when they turn a certain age. It . . . It's not comfortable to gain legs, and it takes a lot of concentration and magic, which is what the shell helps with. Kat doesn't like walking on land because she gets back pains as well." Bella gestured to her chest, but Lovino wasn't paying attention to the mermaid.

"A shell?" Lovino frowned. Alfred never had a shell around his neck that he knew of. And Alfred was definitely not afraid of being on land. Or near pirates like Kirkland.

Kirkland.

Kirkland had trapped Alfred in a tank. Kirkland, who was known to dabble in magic, which was one of the reasons Antonio and Lovino didn't care for him. Alfred hadn't explained anything about what happened on the ship, but there were definitely a few stories where Alfred described being on different parts of the ship, which Lovino hadn't really paid attention to at the time.

Kirkland must have gotten the shell away in order to trap Alfred in the tank.

"What?!" Bella demanded, and Lovino realized he had said the last bit out loud.

"Alfred said he escaped a tank that was on a pirate ship. I'm from a Spanish ship that the pirates attacked when he escaped, and he rescued me after I got knocked overboard." Lovino explained. He felt a little annoyed with Alfred as he spoke. Why had the merman stayed with him, instead of going after his shell? After Alfred had gotten Lovino settled on the Island, shouldn't he have gone after Kirkland?

Lovino headed back to the beach, more than a little distracted. He wasn't sure what he wanted to hear from Alfred at this point, but judging from Bella's look of concern, he was going to hear it whether he wanted it or not.

Alfred and Kat returned after Lovino started the fire.

"Bella, he-" Kat stopped, noticing Lovino.

"Why the hell are you here, Idiot?" Lovino moved over to Alfred.

"What do you mean?" There was a hushed argument between Bella and Kat that the two men ignored.

"Bella explained about those shells letting you walk- why . . . why did you stay here?" Lovino felt frustrated. Alfred levered himself up to pull Lovino into his arms.

"I promised I'd take care of you, remember?" Alfred hugged him. "I . . . I wanted to stay and help you, Lovino, you're my friend." Alfred felt a little uneasy with saying that, because he wasn't sure that was the right thing to say. "Besides, I don't know where Ar- Kirkland's gone. Chasing after him after I just got away seemed really . . . idiotic."

"You are an Idiot. How do you plan on getting the shell back if you can't walk?"

"I could do it." Bella offered. "Letting a human have one of our shells is asking for trouble."

"Hell no, Kirkland's a pirate,"

-"Privateer." Alfred corrected, and got an elbow to his stomach for his trouble.-

"With a crew with no morals, it would be too dangerous, and what if he got your shell too?" Lovino pointed out. "I could sneak in and out."

"He's got a point." Kat pointed out. "But Bella and I can distract them with our breasts too, so they don't find you."

"You don't have to do this." Alfred objected, looking at Lovino, who had choked a little at Kat's rather frank point.

" . . . I know. But I want to. I owe you my life, the least I can do is try to get your shell back." Lovino felt better, strangely.

Bella watched the two curiously. Most merfolk had the ability to sense a human's character, but mermaids were generally better at it. Lovino was a trustworthy human, and apparently, he really liked Alfred. A very cat-like grin began to form as she watched Lovino start scolding Alfred for being an idiot and struggling out of the hug, while the merman complained about wanting food. They could hold off finding their missing 'sister' just a little- it would be well worth it just to be able to tell this story when they did reunite.

Kat looked at her friend with a slight dismayed feeling, recognizing the look that had gotten so many of their group in trouble at one point or another. At the least, it would be entertaining to watch.

* * *

**Bella- Belgium**

'**Kat'- Ukraine, short for 'Katyusha', which I do not know how to pronounce and Bella went and gave her a nickname before I could blink.**

**I didn't even plan for them to enter this story. I didn't even want to have them, either. But they just showed up, and bossed their way in. Well, Belgium did, Ukraine got dragged in on her insistence. (No Belarus or Russia in this story, she's currently chasing him through the Baltic Sea demanding a seaside wedding.) And as if bossing their way in wasn't enough, Belgium had to go and change the plot! (Apparently, she came from the part of my mind that wanted to push the two together faster . . .)**

**Well, it does give me an excuse to go back and edit the first chapter, adding in more detail, which I've been wanting to do . . . Though that might take a bit, I'll post a note when that happens.**

**The Next chapter got hijacked, so we'll get away from the Island and the group and get some more plot. Maybe. It depends on how it goes and whether or not any other characters decide to show up. **

**Mermaids and shells- believe it or not, this is actually part of a myth (or two). Basically, the myth(s) is that mermaids carry seashells that either contain/focus their magic, and breaking the shells leaves them powerless.**

**Disney sort of used this with Ursula- remember the seashell she had that she trapped Ariel's voice and then used to hypnotize Eric? Her spell on Eric broke when the shell got smashed.**


	6. La Morsa & Der Seeadler

**Ladies and Gentlemen . . . the chapter was hijacked by a very well meaning character, and then got hijacked by a couple more. It backs up a bit, before moving forward.**

**Don't expect rapid updates like this in the future, by the way, this just flowed rather well after writing the previous chapter.**

**La Morsa & Der Seeadler**

Antonio Fernandez Carriedo was at a loss.

Kirkland had given up the fight when the storm had grown too fierce, and Antonio had also quickly diverted his attention to making sure his ship and crew would survive the storm.

It didn't take too long for them to exit the storm, and Antonio figured he should retire back to his cabin to try and dry off.

What he found left him speechless. The bookcase was half out of the broken window, and Lovino was nowhere to be found.

There was a frantic search to check and make sure that Lovino wasn't anywhere else on the ship, which ended almost as soon as it had begun.

Antonio wasted no time taking his frustration and grief out on the bookcase, tossing pieces overboard while the carpenter boarded up his broken window.

Lovino had been one of his most trusted sailors, and probably the most trusted. The younger had been practically family.

Family. Antonio was going to have to contact Lovino's brother and let him know his brother was lost at sea. (A stubborn part of him refused to admit outright that Lovino was probably dead, it had been a bad storm and Lovino would have been injured from going through the glass.) It took him several tries to pen two letters, one to Feliciano, the other to his employer. It took even longer to find a port with a ship heading back to where they lived.

That (sending the letter) was a couple months ago, and Antonio found himself wondering if he was ever going to get over the incident. Death came all the time (he'd lost another two men to some of the savages in the New World) and yet Lovino's (possible) death bothered him to no end.

Maybe it was because there was no body?

Antonio sighed as he made his way to the tavern in one of the ports that, while not worst governed, was definitely not one of the best. It allowed ships from anywhere with no questions, as long as they paid the required amount. Exploring was fun, but his men did need some time ashore with other people. (Especially women.)

Like many of his ideas lately, this brought Antonio into trouble. Somewhere between his second and last drink, a bar fight erupted, and Antonio blinked as someone pulled him out of the bar. He started to tell them off in Spainish, but didn't get very far.

"Kesese~! I actually understood that insult!" Antonio blinked, focusing on what little he could see with the poor lighting from the street lamps. He knew that laugh.

"Gilbert Beilschmidt? What are you doing here? I thought you were in the mediterreanian." His tongue stumbled over that last word.

"I ought to be asking you how much you've been drinking without the awesome me, but you already answered that." The other man laughed. "C'mon, let's find a quiet place for a drink and catch up!" Antonio followed as the Prussian pulled him through the streets, talking all the while. "This is going to be awesome, Kesese~!"

"What's going to be awesome?" Antonio managed, but Gilbert ignored him, entering a very subdued tavern.

"Hey, Fancy-pants, look who I found in a bar fight!" Antonio, now slightly more sober, blinked at the blond man with shoulder length hair tied back and some stubble on his chin.

"Francis Bonnefoy?" Antonio blinked.

"Antonio?" The blond Frenchman blinked back, before smiling. "It's been a while."

The first time the trio had met had been when they were cabin boys and Gilbert and Antonio's ships had stopped at a port in France. They had initially gotten into a fight among themselves, before having to unite against some larger opponents. After that, they could count on one hand the times all three had met again (it had been more common for them to meet one or the other), but they retained a fairly friendly attitude towards each other, keeping informed of the others' welfare, even if the 'friendship' did border on rivalry.

"So what have you been doing?" Antonio accepted the wine.

"I am retired, I was a captain, but I'm afraid my luck has been horrible, my beautiful ship was damaged in a fight with that horrid Englishman, and cannot sail as she used too." Francis leaned back with a smile. "It's been rather pleasant here."

"I made Captain a few years ago, my awesome ship _Seeadler_ is one of the fastest built." Gilbert bragged. "I'm working for a merchant, prissy sort of guy with a she-male for a wife." Gilbert grinned. "He's got a rather cute Italian servant, nice to look at, poor kid could pass as a girl." He scowled. "Unfortunately, the idiot's decided to tag along on this trip, he's looking for a place to build a new house, and he brought the she-male and kid with him. It's been nothing but trouble the past few months." He was a staunch believer in the superstition that women on board ships were bad luck.

"I'm assigned to explore and chart the islands, but well, we've run into trouble with pirates . . . Kirkland in particular." Antonio sighed. "I've lost a few men." That made both of them wince, it was never pleasant loosing men.

"You've had trouble with that horrid Englishman too? My condolences." Francis passed him the wine.

"What's his flag?" Gilbert leaned back.

"Primarily, British colors, he's one of those Privateers, but he does run up a skull and cross-swords when he feels less generous." Francis answered.

"This coming from the former _Corsair_?" Gilbert smirked, and Francis rolled his eyes.

The trio spent most of the evening talking and drinking.

"You've got a couple days here, right?" Gilbert asked at one point, looking at Antonio.

"Yes, my men needed a break."

"Good, then we can have some real awesome fun tomorrow."

"Why not tonight?" Francis offered. He received two very incredulous looks. "What?"

"Do you not remember what happened the last time you said that, amigo?" Antonio absently shuddered, even slightly drunk, he was quick to put the memories back towards the farthest corner of his mind.

"I still can't look at belaying pins and chicken coops the same way." Gilbert added.

"That was fun, though." Francis pointed out.

"I think we're still banned from setting foot in that port." Antonio reminded him.

"Sure I can't tempt you?"

"I do not think so." Antonio gave him a look.

"You could, but my first mate would kill me, then I'd get resurrected by that she-male and potentially killed again." Gilbert winced. "That is not an awesome way to go."

It wasn't long before the trio were kicked out of the tavern, agreeing to meet up the next day at the docks.

However, when the time to meet came, Gilbert didn't show.

"Perhaps his employer distracted him?" Antonio suggested when Francis complained about waiting. Antonio very quickly regretted the suggestion as Francis decided that the two were going to rescue Gilbert and headed towards a nicer area of the port. "Do you even know where he is?"

"Of course! I met him earlier yesterday and he told me." Francis smirked. "Now, let's rescue our friend for some fun."

They didn't have far to go before they found a small well kept inn, just off the beaten track.

"You are wasting time!"

"And you are being foolish!" The voices weren't raised, but there was no missing the tension behind them.

Francis led Antonio to the side, where Gilbert was arguing with a well dressed man.

"Look, Herr Edelstein, I told you when we landed it was going to be for a couple days. The men need a break so that they'll be more efficient, and there is talk of poor weather coming."

"Always such a conundrum, the balance between time and efficiency." Francis interrupted smirking. He hadn't noticed that Antonio had paled and stopped. "Especially when one is wasting such precious time arguing."

"You're not helping- Antonio?" Gilbert noticed that the Spaniard had stopped and was looking in shock at his employer.

"Antonio Fernandez Carriedo? It's been a while."

"Yes . . . You didn't mention your employer was Roderich Edelstein." Antonio tried to recover, but he already knew what was going to happen.

"I didn't know you knew each other." Gilbert glanced between the two.

"Our families have done some business in the past." Roderich explained. "It's been a while since we've heard from each other."

"Then, you didn't get my recent letter?" Antonio felt like wincing, Gilbert said that the other had an italian servant with him, that should have been a clue. Dame Fortune was definitely not favoring him.

"No, why, has something happened?"

"I'm afraid so . . . is Feliciano with you?" Gilbert and Francis exchanged a look of confusion at Antonio's answer, but Francis made the connection first. One of the men Antonio lost was related to Feliciano.

" . . . I see." Roderich had apparently made the same connection. "Let's go inside, I'll call for him."

"Roderich, is something wrong?" His wife, Elizaveta was in the parlor when they came in.

"Could you get Feliciano?"

"Of course." Elizaveta got up and it wasn't long before she returned with Feliciano.

"Hello, Captain, it's good to see you again!" Feliciano smiled at Antonio.

"Yes, I just wish it was under better circumstances." Antonio couldn't manage a smile in return. "Feliciano . . . I'm sorry to say your brother Lovino was lost at sea."

"What do you mean?" Feliciano blinked, mind trying to process the expression while his heart was already clenching. "Can't you find him?"

"No, Feliciano . . . Lovino's . . . Lovino's dead." Antonio choked on the words. He was aware of a hand on his shoulder, and if he had looked back, he would have seen Francis with a somber yet sympathetic expression. Gilbert's face was blank of most emotion as he slipped out of the room.

"_Fratello_ is dead?" Feliciano managed, eyes wide and tearing up. "How?"

"I am sorry." Antonio tried to explain. "There was an attack . . . he was knocked overboard . . ."

"Could he have survived at all?" Elizaveta asked as she wrapped Feliciano in an embrace as he broke down, Roderich coming up behind her to wrap his arm about her waist. Antonio shook his head, voice finally deserting him. Francis pulled him to sit down in a chair, then leaning on the arm rest so that he could keep a hand on Antonio's shoulder, Roderich gently guiding Elizaveta and Feliciano to do the same on the love seat in the room.

As they settled onto the seats, Gilbert returned with a tray of tea, wine (with the accompanying glasses) and some food. He put it on the table before sitting on the arm rest on the other side of Antonio, shoving one of the cups with wine into Antonio's hands. (He himself had a beer, which made Francis roll his eyes.)

"I understand you've been searching for an Island to live on?" Francis asked Roderich, who gave a slight nod as he passed both his wife and Feliciano some of the tea.

"Yes, we've been talking about it for some time." Roderich looked up. "You are?"

"Forgive me, I am Captain Francis Bonnefoy, retired to this lovely island." Francis gave a slight bow. "I was curious, you see, because Antonio mentioned that he was exploring and charting the islands. I'm sure he could point you to some good candidates." Antonio startled out of his depression as Francis spoke.

"I can go over the charts."

While the discussion went over charts, Feliciano was lost in thought. He didn't believe that his brother was dead, no matter what Antonio said. Lovino was just lost. There were stories of dolphins saving sailors, and other miracles at sea, and Lovino was worth a miracle.

"Are there any islands near the place my brother was lost?" He managed, distracting the men from their discussion of distances and times. They all knew why he had asked the question, and what he would ask if there were islands . . .

" . . . Maybe." Antonio shifted. "I'd have to check my charts."

And none of them had a heart to refuse Feliciano's request to check the Islands near to the place Lovino had been lost.

* * *

**Gah, I made myself tear up a bit when writing Antonio breaking the news to Feliciano. **

**La Morsa- Spanish for the sea horse (or walrus/sea cow, but for the purposes of the story, it's sea horse . . . I did this note already, didn't I?).**

**Der Seeadler- German for The Sea eagle, Gilbert's ship. (Because eagles are awesome). **

**Since I don't think it'll make it into the story (though I've been proven wrong before), France's ship was the **_**Jeanne D'Arc**_**. I don't think I'll reference to it by name, though.**

**Corsairs are the French Privateers, Like other Privateers, they tended to be referred to as pirates by their opponents, though they had a slightly better reputation, unlike some other privateers. One famous Corsair started at age thirteen as a cabin boy and made captain at 22. (I'll give you his name later :) ) Overtime, Corsair became synonymous with 'swashbuckling romanticized pirates'. (Barbary Coast Corsairs and Turkish Corsairs being the most famous.)**

**Privateers in general were given letters of marque from a country, which licensed them to attack and loot the ships of the enemies of that country. They had the right to be treated as prisoners of war, instead of as pirates (and treatment of pirates wasn't that good). They were considered as 'supplemental' naval forces for their country.**

**The most famous (or infamous) privateers were those commissioned by England.**

**Believe it or not, America, once it became an independent country, also had privateers, which were (reportedly) better managed than the actual american navy.**

**. . . England really rubbed off on America, if you think about it in Hetalia terms.**

**Near the end of the 1800's, privateers slowly fell out of favor for various reasons, though during the first world war, they made a slight comeback.**

**I'm pretty sure Feli was giving them all bambi eyes to get his way- I'm pretty sure his eyes could count as lethal weapons. (Bambi eyes is what my family calls puppy eyes, go watch Disney's Bambi and just look at those eyes.)**

**Next update will be in about a week.**


	7. Pirate Attack

**Just saw Hetalia: Beautiful world episode 11. Just about died laughing- The outfits! Russia, Germany and America's in particular . . . The episode is definitely worth watching for the fan service, now if only Romano had been in something other than a suit . . . **

**This Chapter is brought to you by **_**20,000 Leagues Under the Sea**_** and **_**The Mysterious Island**_** by Jules Verne and **_**Treasure Island**_** by Robert Lewis Stevenson. I highly recommend reading **_**The Mysterious Island**_**, not watching the film versions. You lose way too much information that way.**

**Don't own Hetalia . . . there would have been a strip America and Romano working to deal with the Italian mafia in the 1920's . . . damn it, another plot bunny just emerged.**

**(Went back and edited chapter 1 to flow a little better, that should be up now.)**

**Pirate Attack**

On the Island, Lovino was wondering who he could blame for his recent turn of luck. Alfred and Whale were off the hook (pun not intended) by virtue of them spending most of their time with him. Bella and Kat were exonerated by just recently arriving and telling him the news.

"What do you mean, there are pirates on the island?" Lovino stared at the trio of mer-people in the shallows. (Bella having joined the other two for a swim).

"Remember how I said the other, longer side of the Island was rocky? Well, there's apparently a hidden cove they knew about." Alfred explained.

"You could stow away on their ship, they have to make port somewhere else, too." Kat pointed out. Unlike Bella, she was reluctant to cover her top half with anything, preferring to just keep her head and shoulders above the water.

"I'd sooner stay on the island for the rest of my life." Lovino shuddered at the idea. Getting caught and press-ganged by pirates was not on his list of things to do.

Between getting killed by mermaids and dealing with pirates, he'd pick the mermaids. They could be reasoned with.

"We could take care of them." Bella offered, glancing at Alfred. "We just pick off a couple, make them terrified and send them running."

"Or encourage them to try hunting us." Alfred pointed out. "They'll probably check the Island, if they find Lovino, they'll hurt him." Lovino blinked, having just been thinking that himself.

"They're not good swimmers, Lovino can just jump in the water to lose them." Bella didn't completely dismiss the point though. "Lovino might be able to steal some supplies from them."

"The less contact, the better, I think."

"I'll go keep an eye on them, they might not check the island and leave once they've gathered supplies." Kat offered, slipping into deeper water.

"I'll take over the watch later." Alfred offered, and Kat nodded before disappearing under the waves. "Lovino, you and Bella need to stay close to the beach, no fires, and dive the instant you think they're close." Alfred paused, tilting his head. "I wonder if we could set traps to make noise when they get too close?"

"I know, Idiot, you don't have to tell me twice." Lovino glanced at the small campsite he'd set up, before his eyes fell on the chests containing the useless silver and gems. He was going to have to find a place to hide them, otherwise the pirates might kill him for their contents. He mentally revised his former opinion of the chests- useless, except for getting him killed. "How am I going to make a trap, anyway?"

Alfred grinned, and Lovino knew he was going to regret asking.

The traps Alfred suggested were surprisingly simple (though he did try to make them more complicated initially, Lovino got him to go with the simple ones) and very effective at causing noise.

For the first few days, the Pirates stayed near their ship, watched by Alfred and the mermaids. Lovino spent even more time in the water with the whale, and he was just starting to believe that the Pirates were going to leave without getting too close.

* * *

Aflred frowned at the Pirate ship. He didn't like pirates too much (and while Lovino would argue otherwise, Arthur wasn't a pirate like these) and he didn't like them so close to Lovino. He started counting the men on shore, and his frown deepened. There were several missing, and they should have been back by now.

* * *

Lovino moved over to his small campsite after yet another swim with the whale. He was tired, and he'd like to take a siesta. Bella and Kat had left to go diving in deeper waters, and Whale was happily munching on coconuts again. (Which no longer made him worry about his sanity.)

He didn't see the shadow in the trees move until it was too late. Lovino lashed out as he was grabbed, and tried using the knife he carried for diving to defend himself. Judging from the cursing, he'd gotten a few hits and cuts, but it wasn't enough for him to break away, nor was the sudden shower of water that came out of nowhere, and finally one of them came up behind him and hit him with the hilt of his cutlass. Lovino stumbled, stunned, and winced as his hands were tied. He didn't recognize what any of the men were saying, but that could easily be due to being dazed.

The whale meanwhile, was freaking out, his human was in trouble! He couldn't distract the pirates even when he sent a massive amount of water up on the beach with his tail, and a couple even fired shots at him. In a frenzy to get help, Whale reluctantly had to leave Lovino and find either the mermaids or his merman.

Lovino was all but dragged to the hidden cove. He was panicking, and wishing that someone would rescue him. He was no longer out of it, but he still couldn't recognize the language that the pirates were using. _'Damnit, Idiot, save me!'_

* * *

"Lovino's been captured." Alfred almost fell off the rock he had pulled himself on to get a better look at the ship.

"What?" Alfred slid down to where Bella, Kat and Whale were waiting. "How?"

"They must have set off the traps while he was swimming, He wasn't able to get back into the water in time."

"Damnit . . . we've got to rescue him!" Alfred ran a hand through his hair.

"I might have an idea . . . c'mon!" Kat dove, and reluctantly Alfred followed. Above them, the sky began to fill with dark clouds.

* * *

Lovino hit the ground, biting back a curse. He was captured, and pissing off the pirates (however satisfying it would be in the short term) would end up with him probably in pieces.

He still didn't recognize the language being used, and he definitely didn't recognize it after being hit on the head, again, for apparently not answering the ugliest looking bastard he'd ever seen that was either the captain or first mate's questions.

The bastard switched to French and Lovino tried not to gag. French already sounded bad to him (he couldn't speak it, but he could recognize it) and this man's accent made it even worse. The man hit him again, and Lovino earnestly started to pray that Alfred would save him. The steadily darkening clouds meant that they'd either return to their boat, taking him with them, or they'd stay on shore, again, leaving him with them.

The man shouted again, and Lovino watched as two men came over, and quickly spoke to each other.

* * *

"What is it?" Alfred asked as they swam getting more uneasy with the distance. Kat and Bella were swimming too slow, in his opinion.

"I found him yesterday, but I didn't want to bother him so I didn't say anything."

"Found who- Oh, Crap!" Alfred and Bella stared, and Whale turned right around and swam back for the Lagoon. "Are you serious?"

"Yes, You need to go back to Lovino, we'll get him."

"Alright, but be careful." And Alfred was gone, hoping that Lovino was alright.

* * *

Lovino was not alright, he could have been much worse off, but apparently, the Pirates were having more fun toying with him by pushing him into the path of a swinging sword to see how close they could get the timing before he got cut. Staying Alive was a priority, as was waiting for a chance to slip back into the sea and swim like hell. Or just hide on the bottom, whichever.

One of the pirates shouted, as Lovino was once again shoved, narrowly avoiding the swing of a sword. There was a rumble of thunder, and Lovino was dragged to the waiting longboats. He was quickly forced into one, and a knife nicked his throat, the threat very clear 'Try to escape, and you're dead.' Turning his attention to the water- safety, so close and yet so far- he saw a brief shimmer of gold and blue. Alfred. The merman was swimming around in the darkening water, and watching the long boats.

If he wasn't in the center of the boat, and the knife wasn't at his throat, he was pretty sure Alfred would have grabbed him already. Lovino felt a little better at knowing that Alfred was near, and waiting.

The storm broke, and Alfred appeared and disappeared again, and suddenly, the men in the long boat in front of them shouted, the boat breaking apart. Lovino could have sworn he caught a glimpse of Alfred's tail. Behind them, the other boat suddenly broke apart as the wind began to pick up.

Apparently deciding that the shore was safer, the leader of the group tried to get the long boat to turn around. Several pirates started shouting and screaming, and the pirate holding the knife used it to point in horror at the ship. Large dark tentacles were reaching up and wrapping around rails, splintering wood, pistols and muskets ineffective against their advance.

"_Dio mio_ . . ." Lovino gaped, and suddenly, the long boat was turned over. Lovino had barely gotten a breath in when he hit the water. A blue tail flashed by, Kat's tail, stunning several pirates with a blow, and Lovino tried to get back to the surface.

Swimming with his hands bound was not easy, and he got a good view of Bella pulling two men to the bottom, both struggling before letting out their breath. Then strong arms grabbed him, pulling him away.

"I've got you." Alfred's voice kept him from thrashing, and Alfred pulled him back to the surface, the sudden storm turning into a drizzle. Lovino awkwardly put his still-tied arms around Alfred's neck as he watched whatever it was break the ship in half, one half landing partially on land, the other sinking to the bottom of the cove.

"What is it?" Lovino managed.

"A Lusca, Kat asked him to help." Alfred wrapped one arm around Lovino's waist. Finally done destroying the ship, the Lusca sunk back into the water, taking several unfortunate pirates with it. "I'm sorry."

"For what?" Lovino blinked.

"For being late." Alfred looked at him. "For not being there when you needed me."

"Tch, Idiot, Y-you came when I really needed help." Lovino felt himself blush. "You've got nothing to apologize for." Before he even thought about it, his head moved, and he kissed Alfred on the corner of the other's mouth. Alfred flushed a little as well.

The moment did not go unnoticed. "See?" Bella pointed at the two, "How could you not think that's adorable?" She and Kat were a short distance away, watching the two as Lovino turned an even brighter red as Alfred pulled him back to the Lagoon.

"You have a point." Kat smiled, then turned her attention to the remaining sailors that hadn't been killed yet, a couple stubbornly swimming towards shore. "Now, let's make sure they don't bother Lovino again." Bella's cat-like smile returned, but it was more feral.

"Of course." And the two mermaids went after them.

* * *

Lovino was grateful when Alfred finally got the ropes off, and then had to fend off a very concerned whale.

"I'm alright, Oi, don't get so close, you'll get stuck again." Lovino patted it's head. "Thanks for the help." Whale gave a soft "Bwooo" and backed up. Lovino turned red as Alfred wrapped his arms around him from behind. "I need to get out of the water, Idiot."

"I'm sorry."

"What- what the hell's with the apologizing?" Lovino twisted to look at him. "I told you, it's alright!"

Alfred didn't respond, merely burying his face in Lovino's hair and wishing that he had his shell back, so he could guard Lovino on land, too. They stayed like that for a while, and Lovino, surprisingly, began to nod off.

"We're back!" Bella and Kat popped up carrying something between them. Lovino yelped and knocked into Alfred, who also startled out of the doze that he had begun to fall in.

"I'm so sorry, we didn't mean to startle you." Kat apologized.

"Where have you been? It's almost time for food." Alfred blinked, reluctantly releasing Lovino.

"Cleaning up- there's a lot of stuff we thought Lovino could use." Bella beamed, and Lovino blinked at her.

"What are you wearing?"

"Oh, do you like it?" She pulled herself out of the water, showing off a black bodice and off-white blouse. "We found them in some chests, I'm going to teach Kat how to wear one, but some of the laces are broken so we'll have to fix them first."

"You know how to wear one?" Alfred blinked.

"Of course, how else are we going to find our sister, if we can't blend in on land?" Bella beamed, then grew serious. "There might be some pirates on the island, though, there was a long boat on shore."

"Of course there are . . ." Lovino groaned. "It would have been too easy otherwise."

"Huh?" Alfred looked at him, but Lovino didn't elaborate.

His life couldn't get any more difficult at this point.

* * *

**The pirates aren't representing any Hetalia characters- or any other characters other than the fact they are cruel unsavory characters who deserved to have a very angry and very large octopus attack and eat them, as well as very vengeful mermaids go after them.**

**Real Life Pirates of this time period were very cruel, and enjoyed coming up with crueler and crueler ways to kill someone. Walking the Plank was one such way, Keelhauling (which is actually a gruesome way to go), sand neckties, and there's another crueler method that I don't remember the name (and it might have even been the Vikings who came up with it) that pretty much involved disembowelment and being forced to walk until you died from bleeding out. You did **_**not**_** want to be captured by pirates, Pirates of the Caribbean notwithstanding. (You also don't want to be captured by modern day pirates, on that note.)**

**Alfred being faster than Bella and Kat- sadly, girls with large breasts swim slower because the pronounced breasts cause drag, meaning they have to swim twice as hard to be just as fast. Ukraine would be an even slower swimmer than Belgium due to this. (Even then, mermaids would still be faster than humans by virtue of having a powerful tail and breathing underwater, so against pirates that can't swim very well, Ukraine has them beat, hands down.)**

**Lusca- a mythological octopus that ranged between 75 ft (23 m) and 200 ft (60 m), believed to have lived in the Caribbean/Bermuda/Bahamas area. (Or still lives, if you believe some Cryptozoologists, in the Bermuda triangle.) Yes, this is an octopus, and not a giant squid. (Squid have eight legs and two long tentacles). Also, Ameriwhale has a reasonable reason to be scared, remember, he's technically still a baby and anything that big would have no problem eating a whale. Ameriwhale will redeem himself in a later chapter, but he couldn't handle this fight.**

**Yet another awkward boy kiss- I think Lovino's trying to convince himself that it didn't happen. Or that he meant to kiss his cheek and missed.**


	8. Search for a Castaway

**Feliciano has decided to hijack this chapter to search for his brother. He used bambi eyes and a lot of begging, which was very effective on this author. The title came from another Jules Verne book, which along with **_**The Mysterious Island**_** and **_**20,000 Leagues**_** forms a bit of a trilogy, in which **_**The Mysterious Island**_** is the last book.**

**Search for a Castaway**

Feliciano knew he was probably pushing his luck and the tolerance of everyone else, but he just couldn't let the possibility that one of the islands could have his brother. Thankfully, the Captains and Edelstein had agreed without much hesitation to search.

Both ships were sailing together, hoping to act as a deterrent to pirates who would think twice about attacking two ships, and communicated either by shouting or using Captain Beilschmidt and Captain Bonnefoy's birds.

Captain Bonnefoy had insisted on joining Captain Antonio on his ship, but had requested that his valet go with Captain Beilschmidt. Feliciano hadn't spoken to the other valet much, the other was so quiet and stuck to his room or the deck, unless delivering a message from one of the birds.

For the most part, everyone was okay with Feliciano's request- even the sternest sailor had been unable to deny Feliciano's teary eyed request to check the islands near his brother's last location.

The only one that was still hesitant was Ludwig, the First mate of the _Seeadler_, he was captain's younger half-brother, and well, he didn't quite see the reason to provide false hope for survival from certain death. (Then again, the first mate was known for his rather stringent view of rules and regulations, so it wasn't all that surprising that he was uneasy with this search.)

Feliciano wasn't aware of Ludwig's reservations, and currently, was playing with the ship's cats, trying to keep his mind off of the fact that he had already done his chores in a frenzy to have something to do, and now didn't have anything to do that wasn't already being done by someone else. Roderich and Elizaveta had allowed him the rest of the day off.

"Ve, it's too early to take a siesta." Feliciano informed one of the cats, who was far more interested in being petted than anything the Italian had to say. "Hmm, maybe I should figure out what to say when I meet Lovino again . . . It's been a while . . . I wonder if he'll let me cook for him . . . I hope there's enough ingredients for his favorite dish . . ." Two more cats joined the first, annoyed at his lack of attention to them. "_Fratello_, it's me, Feliciano . . . no . . ."

"What are you doing?" Ludwig noticed him talking to the cats.

"I'm trying to think of what to say when I find my brother."

"Oh . . . that's . . . nice." Ludwig blinked, already wishing he had just ignored the Italian. "If you don't mind me asking, why are you so sure your brother is alive?"

"Ve . . ." Feliciano very quickly squished down his own doubts, before responding. "I just . . . have to believe it . . ." One of the cats, a small brown-furred runt, mewed and rubbed against Feliciano's side. "Wouldn't you do the same, if it was your brother?"

" . . ." Ludwig had to think about it. On the one hand, Gilbert was an obnoxious brother, the type that got younger brothers into trouble and generally annoyed the hell out of him. On the other . . . Gilbert was still his brother, and Ludwig wasn't the type to hate family, no matter how annoying they were. Not to mention, Gilbert would probably annoy whoever tried to claim his soul into letting him live, and probably find his way back even if Ludwig didn't go looking for him. "_Ja_, I suppose I would." Ludwig sighed, and sat down next to Feliciano. Instantly, two cats jumped on his lap. For a moment, Ludwig tried to come up with a topic of conversation, before settling on "What's your brother like?"

Feliciano beamed, and began trying to explain Lovino.

It should be noted that the image of the stern first mate willingly listening to the cheerful Italian and allowing the cats to crawl on him sent some members of the crew into a sort of panic. Gilbert found it amusing, and Elizaveta, much to Roderich's confusion, declared it cute.

Over on _La Morsa_, Antonio was trying to figure out why Francis was so willing to help. They weren't so close that the Frenchman's presence on his ship could be considered natural- it was more unnatural. Francis almost always had an ulterior motive in doing something- normally, that didn't bother Antonio, as when they usually met at ports, the ulterior motive was fun, and the times that they didn't, well, Francis's ulterior motives never involved his ship or his crew; with the exception, Antonio realized, of Francis teasing Lovino, and Antonio had always been the one to put a stop to it when it began to get out of hand.

"What's wrong, Antonio?" Francis noted his fellow captain was silent.

"Francis . . . why are you here? I appreciate your help, but I don't . . . I don't see how it involves you." Antonio looked up.

"Truthfully, two reasons. One, I was bored in my retirement." Francis smiled. "As for the other . . . whatever else we may have been, we are still friends, and you look like you could use one." Francis wrapped one arm around Antonio's shoulders. "Now, we should be coming up on the first island soon." Antonio nodded, and together they headed back on deck.

The first island was little more than a sandbar with trees, and calling it an island was a bit of a stretch. There was no one on it, and no evidence that there had been anyone on it for a while.

The second island wasn't much better, there was more vegetation and it was slightly rockier, but again, there was no evidence of anyone being there for quite some time.

"I don't know why I'm doing this." Francis glanced up from where he was comparing charts with Gilbert to see Antonio slump against the chair. "He went through the window, it was a storm, if the window didn't knock him out, the water would have, I've lost men before and didn't bother looking . . . So why am I doing this?"

"You're doing this because miracles do happen, _mon ami_, sailors presumed dead have been found." Francis answered, as Gilbert twitched. Apparently blatant emotions were not the prussian's strong suit. "And even if Lovino isn't found . . . perhaps this will help you lay him to rest."

"Still doesn't explain why I'm doing this for Lovino when I haven't for others."

"Well that's obvious even to some unawesome idiot; the kid was your most trusted crewmember and you worked close for what, everyday for a few years? Of course you're going to be more attached to him than most of your crew." Gilbert pointed out, rolling his eyes. "Not get up of your ass and help Francis, he sucks at reading charts."

"You cut me to the quick! Such hostile cruelty, to a friend no less!" Francis chose to ham it up, falling dramatically onto Antonio. "Antonio, you'll defend me, won't you?"

Antonio felt his lips twitch into a slight smile. "And here I thought you were a _Corsair Capitan_, surely you don't need my help?" Gilbert burst into laughter, and Francis (ineffectively) pouted.

The third island was unreachable due to a storm that blew up. There was a debate about trying to find a safe port, but Francis had visited this island and felt it better to move on.

"If I remember correctly there were several reefs around this island, it would be safer to avoid it and come back later, than run aground in the storm." Francis frowned at the sky.

"Gilbert agrees." Antonio absently cradled Pierre in his hands, the light drizzle was starting to become rain, and the tiny bird was shivering.

And so they avoided the storm by going to the fourth island next, which was about two weeks away.

This one was inhabited, and the natives weren't all too pleased to see them. The Island was still searched, despite the danger, and one of the less volatile (He only tried to stab them when they got too close to his children, and stopped when they backed off) natives did speak some spanish (which made Antonio cringe because of the butchering of the pronunciations), confirming that no castaways had reached the island.

Feliciano still clung to the belief that his brother was alive, and despite the fact the odds were farily unlikely, they agreed to head back to the third island. It would take a bit longer, as they were mostly going against a few currents, but they agreed it would be worth it.

Feliciano moved to a spot where he wouldn't be in the way of the sailors, trying to see if one of the cats were on deck, when he collided with Captain Bonnefoy's valet. "Sorry! I didn't see you!"

"That's alright, I wasn't paying attention, either." The valet assured him. "H-How are you doing?"

"Ve, a little worried, but I know Lovino's alive." Feliciano fidgeted. The island was really the last chance he'd get to search for his brother.

"You know . . . even if he's not on the island, that doesn't mean he's not alive, a ship could have picked him up, either from the island or adrift at sea." The other absently adjusted his glasses. "I'm sure if we don't find him, he'll find a way back to you."

"I hope so . . . I'm just worried I won't recognize him . . . it's been a long time since we've actually talked." Years, actually, what if his brother no longer liked him?

"I'm sure your brother will recognize you, though." The other pointed out, noticing the way Feliciano had suddenly tried to make himself smaller. "I know I'd recognize my brother, no matter how much he tried to change."

"You have a brother?"

"Yes, he's somewhere in this area, I think, at least, that's the last I heard- with my luck, he's probably gone to China without thinking of leaving a message for me."

"Feliciano!" Roderich called, and Feliciano hastily excused himself, only realizing as he crossed the deck he had completely forgotten the other's name.

* * *

**Just a reminder- these ships don't have engines. They rely on winds and currents, and thus, it takes a long time to get anywhere, and there is no such thing as 'speeding up' unless there is a favorable wind.**

**A ship from, say, Spain, to the new world could take somewhere between three to six months to get there, depending on where the ship was headed, favorable winds, whether or not there were storms, etc. **

**This was a cause for grief, because messages and letters took a long time to get anywhere, the war of 1812 has an interesting example: England signed off on the treaty, but it didn't get to America for several months, during which there were several more battles, because the Americans didn't have the treaty yet. **

**Needless to say, now we can send messages and travel much faster than back then- although, I personally think the result has shortened people's ability to be patient.**

**Pirates never took on more than one ship, and only attacked ships that they knew they could take.**

**Some of my head canon for Prussia sneaked into this story, because I really think one of the reason's he's still existing is because he managed to annoy (or trick) the reaper into letting him live, because Prussia is just awesome like that.**

**To tell the truth, Germany was never supposed to be in this story- but then I realized that Prussia needed looking after and Italy wouldn't stop nagging me to add him.**

**Sorry for the wait, on that note, I got distracted- You see, I've been reading some supernatural and fantasy fics and, well, none of them really capture America and N. Italy right, so I started outlining a new story in between studying and papers. This will be posted around july, depending on how real life goes.**

**See you next chapter!**


	9. Island Lullaby

**Okay, so, this was a longer chapter originally, but I had to rewrite it several times when I realized I was in a corner; as a result, it got shorter because elements of this chapter got pushed to the next one. **

**For a longer explanation, filled with woe, about why this chapter took so long, read the author's note at the end. **

**This chapter title brought to you by the Zac Brown Band, and their song, 'Jump Right In'.**

**Island Lullaby**

Lovino sighed as he picked up the pants and boots that were some of the clothes Alfred, Bella and Kat had liberated from the remains of the Pirate Ship, and ignored Bella and Kat bickering over whether or not Kat should spend some time wearing clothes and walking.

There was evidence that there were pirates on the Island, and Alfred had pushed for him to take a couple knives or even an axe with him when he went away from the beach to gather fruit. Lovino had conceded the knives, but he was liable to take his own head off with an axe or actual sword.

The boots were because his attempts at sandals had never actually succeeded, and if he got trapped on the rocky beaches, he wanted to be able to run without worrying about cutting his feet on the rocks.

"I'm going to go for a swim!" Kat yelled, breaking Lovino's concentration, trying to escape Bella, who had gotten the blouse on the struggling mermaid, and was trying to lace up the bodice, much to the overly busty mermaid's dismay. "Alfred, Lovino, help me!"

" . . . Hahaha, um, there's no way that'll end well for either of us." Alfred looked at Lovino, who finished changing into the less frayed pants and was trying on the boots.

"Stay still, Kat! This won't hurt!"

"I need to find boots that fit- oi, help me out here." Lovino got Alfred's attention, and the merman pulled himself out of the water and over to where Lovino was sitting.

"Nn- this is very uncomfortable!" Kat burst into tears. "Lovino! Alfred! H-help!"

"Will you stop crying? You always complain your breasts hurt your back out of water, but with proper support, it will be fine!" Bella huffed, miffed at her best friend's actions.

"Kat . . . I know you don't like wearing clothes, but she's got a point." Alfred absently grabbed Lovino's leg and put it in the boot he'd picked up.

This unbalanced the Italian, who ended up face first in the sand, and came up glaring at merman, who was focused on the crying mermaid.

"Watch what you're doing!" Lovino growled, and Alfred blinked, looking at him in a completely clueless fashion. Lovino was ready to try and throw the boot at him, but the look stopped him.

"Doesn't the boot fit?" Lovino's face once again met the sand- this time out of frustration. "Lovino? Did I do something wrong?"

"The boot fits." Lovino muttered into the sand. It did, so he couldn't take it off and throw it. Damn it. Lovino looked up again, this time to see Alfred beam a smile at him as the merman put on the other boot on his still bare foot. Lovino felt his lips twitch to return it.

"I'm going to go with Lovino, then!" Kat grabbed onto the startled Italian, who turned a shade of red that Alfred had never seen before.

"Wha-?" Lovino blinked, as Kat easily picked him up and pulled him along. A stray cloud blocked the sun. And it was a few minutes before the mermaid stopped. "What was that about?" The sudden turn around was confusing. Hadn't she been crying about not wanting to walk?

"You have to stop it." Kat looked at him.

"Stop what?" Lovino was really confused. "What did I do?"

"Oh! I forgot to explain . . . Bella explained the shells, yes?"

"Yes, they help you use your magic to walk on land."

"They help us control our magic, yes, but not just to walk on land. They keep it from flaring up when we're angry, or happy or well, experiencing any strong emotion."

" . . . Alfred doesn't have a shell, what does that mean for him?" Kat became even more distressed at Lovino's question.

"I'm not explaining this right . . . Merfolk are all possessive by nature- we love things that are unique, one of a kind. Treasure, stories told well, songs, sea creatures . . . when we find something unique, we can't help but do everything we can to keep it, for as long as we can. Alfred . . . Alfred thinks you're something special, he'd do anything for you, and without control of his magic . . . it causes problems."

"How?"

"The storm. When the pirates captured you, the storm was caused by Alfred's emotions. Didn't you see how quickly it dissipated when Alfred got you back?" Kat took Lovino's look of shock as her answer. "Alfred's kept the weather calm around the island, because he's been happy to be with you. But we can't interfere with the natural weather patterns for long, and Alfred can't reign in his magic with his emotions being so strong."

"So what did you mean, I have to stop it? Stop doing what?"

"You have to stop giving up."

"Giving up what?"

"Giving up getting off this Island. You keep doing that. You stop preparing for leaving, you swim more, you spend too much time with Alfred, and all you're doing is making it harder for when you have to say good bye." Kat's eyes started to water up. "You must think me horrible for saying this, but you have to stop getting distracted."

" . . . Can you put spells on people?" Lovino frowned up at the cloud cover that was forming. He hadn't gotten much information from Alfred (he had a feeling Alfred hadn't thought the information worth explaining, and had just left out magic entirely).

"No. That's just an excuse some sailor came up with to explain why he jumped overboard to try and catch a mermaid. Men don't like to admit they were being fools, so they say they were bewitched to cover up being drunk or too stupid to realize they couldn't catch a mermaid by swimming."

"Oh." That made sense. He knew some idiot sailors that would try something like that.

"Yes, so please, promise me you'll stop giving up?"

"I'll try." With that, they headed back to the beach.

* * *

**Gah, sorry for the wait. Y'see, I wrote myself into a corner with this story, so while I was trying to fix this chapter, I went back to an old fandom and decided to write some more there, to try and get my mind off the fact that I'd gotten into a corner. **

**Then I got into financial issues, got a job at a bistro that requires me to work all day (two shifts, they're low on people) a few days a week, online college courses, Real Life . . . and then some really cruel friend of mine, knowing full well that I have a plot bunny generator in my head, suggested I watch Rise of the Guardians. Despite being an adult, I figured I'd get back in touch with my inner child again and watch it with my mom, as we do not spend a lot of bonding time. (I'm a Daddy's girl. Pretty much the son he never had.) **

**We both loved it. And I decided to check out that fandom, read some stories, see how crazy the fans are (admit it, you have been a crazy fan for something at least once in your life), check out the history of why the movie was made, y'know, normal fanfic author behavior.**

**I never learn. That's how I got into most of my fandoms, and ROTG just sucked me in. I have a story planned out for that fandom now.**

**Then, just as I start fighting my way back to the fandoms I have to finish stories for, I discover they're re-doing Max Steel. Now, I only saw one episode of the original show, did not follow the plot all that well, cause while I could tell who was a hero and who was a villain, I didn't know the characters, but I thought it was a cool sort of show. So I checked the remake out.**

**I never learn. I now have a story outlined for that fandom (of which, there is practically none, so . . .) too.**

**At some point, I'm just going to start posting the first chapters of planned fics, see which get a nibble so I know if I have any good ideas left.**

**So, like I said, I have no idea where this story is trying to go anymore. I'm trying to keep it short, because I no longer have the patience (or time) for long stories. 15 chapters is going to be the limit.**


End file.
